No, population growth was faster in France during the eighteenth century, and much slower in the second half of the nineteenth. That's in spite of significant immigration and very low emigration rates. I'm not sure what it has to do with density - France has far more arable land than Britain, and I believe a bit more than imperial Germany (same land area, but IIRC a smaller percentage is arable), both of which had higher populations by the 1900, much higher in the case of Germany. It has to do with the Napoleonic laws governing inheritance and an earlier onset of a cultural norm of small families.