The birth rate in France continues to plummet. In 2022, nearly 726,000 babies were born on French territory, according to a report published Thursday September 28 by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee). This represents 16,000 fewer births than in 2021, a decrease of 2.2%.
Since 2011, the number of births has only decreased in France, with the exception of a slight rebound in 2021, “a year affected by confinements and deconfinements due to the health crisis”, specifies INSEE.
Children born in 2022 are 12.8% fewer than their elders in 2010. The size of this cohort is also 20.8% smaller than that of 1971, which saw a peak in births, with 916 370 newborns.
Average age of motherhood on the rise
Between 2021 and 2022, the decline in birth rates is greatest among mothers aged 25 to 29 (− 2.7%) and 30 to 34 (− 3.6%), two age groups that concentrate the majority of births. Only women aged over 40 have more children than before (3.3%), “a long-term trend”, according to INSEE. The average age of mothers at birth has increased from 30.2 to 31.2 in ten years.
Births are falling in France, but they have fallen even more in neighboring countries: − 4.9% in the entire European Union between 2021 and 2022. In Estonia and Greece, fertility is collapsing by more than 10%. Going against this trajectory, Portugal is the only country of the Twenty-Seven where the number of babies is increasing.