Fertility : the number of births declines in France

deepspacedave/pictura

Published the 30.08.2017 at 16h53

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Féconditénaissancebébé

784 000 : this is the number of babies born in France in the year 2016, according to the latest report of the Insee (national Institute of statistics and economic studies (insee). The birth rate in france has fallen for the second year in a row. Compared to the year 2015, the Institute counts 15 000 births in less, a decrease of 1.9 % – but to this day, no conclusion is drawn.

“This second year of decline brings the number of births in 2016 to its 1999 level without reaching the low point of 1994 (741 000 excluding Mayotte). Since the early 2000s, the number of births varies between 780 000 and 830 000 “, it read.

Paris and Marseille in the head

Almost all (97 %) of births take place in a specialised institution (maternity hospital). The reduction in the number of maternity units in France has consequences for the place of birth. In fact, some municipalities are centralizing many, many births, when others don’t recognise any of them.

Thus, among the 35 900 French communes, only 2 800 have seen the birth of a baby in 2016. Among these, 2 200 were born one or two babies in the year.

On the contrary, the 200 French communes that have the largest number of births see being born close to four babies out of five (79 %) and the first 500 common include virtually all births (99.6 percent).
Paris is the city where the number of births is the highest (42 000). Three other common record 10 000 live births or more during the year : Toulouse (15 000), Marseille (14 000) and Lyon (10 000).

The women do not deliver in their city

Between 1975 and 2015, nearly two-thirds of maternity wards have closed. These closures were accompanied by an increase in the size of maternity units remaining. Because of this concentration of establishments, the share of births that are registered in the communes of less than 10,000 inhabitants increased from 15 % in 1975 to 9% in 2016. At the same time, that of the births registered in the municipalities of over 50,000 inhabitants has increased from 44 % in 1975 to 50 % in 2016.

The fact of the concentration of maternity hospitals, only three babies in ten (28 %) are born in the municipality where lies their mother. However, the women give birth rarely outside of their department home : nine new-born babies out of ten (87 %) are born in the department where resides their mother.