Former French president Jacques Chirac, 83, was admitted to hospital on Sunday with a lung infection, his son-in-law said.

Chirac, who led France from 1995 to 2007, was "hospitalised this morning at Pitie-Salpetriere (hospital in Paris) to be treated for a lung infection," Frederic Salat-Baroux told AFP, adding he would remain there "in the coming days."