In 2021, 738,000 babies were born in France, i.e. 3,000 more than in 2020. Nine months after the first confinement in the spring of 2020, the fall in the number of births has been offset by an increase.
Hope is reborn among the French. According to one INSEE estimate published this January 18, the fertility of French women has returned to a normal level after several months of health crisis. As the estimates made at the end of November show, 738,000 babies were born in France in 2021, i.e. 3,000 more than in 2020, number up 0.4%. “The rebound that followed in March and April 2021, then the sharp rise since the summer made it possible to catch up with the level of births for the year 2020, even slightly exceeding it “, indicates the INSEE publication. In decline between 2015 and 2020, the fertility indicator even increases slightly in 2021 and stands at 1.83 children per woman.
Drop in births following the first confinement: what are the causes?
The year 2021 has indeed been special for couples. The number of births had fallen nine months after the confinement of spring 2020 : “between December 15, 2020 and February 15, 2021, 10% fewer babies were born than during the same period a year earlier” specifies the report. In particular because of: the context of health crisis, economic uncertainty or fears of pregnancy-related complications may have discouraged the French from conceiving a child. In addition, medically assisted procreation centers have been closed. But “the rebound in births that followed in March and April 2021, then the sharp rise since the summer made it possible to catch up with the level of births for the year 2020, even exceeding it slightly” notes INSEE.
A sharp decline, similar to the end of the baby boom in 1975
This decrease in the number of births at the start of 2021 was, according to INSEE, similar to the end of the baby boom. “You have to go back to 1975, the end of the baby boom, to observe a phenomenon of such magnitude. Births in September and October 1975 had indeed decreased by 14% compared to the same months in 1974, and those of August and November by 10%. A drop reaching -10% had also been observed during the economic recessions of the early 1980s and 1993. However, nothing of the sort had been observed in connection with the last economic crisis of 2008-2009.
How many births in 2021?
In 2021, France has 67.8 million French people and 738 000 babies born this year, i.e. 3000 more than in 2020
What is the fertility rate?
To calculate the fertility rate, INSEE takes into account a given age or an age bracket in order to define the number of children per woman during the year. This figure is then related to the average population of the year of women of the same age. In 2020, the total fertility rate stands at 1.84 children per woman. The ICF oscillated around 2 children per woman between the years 2006 and 2014. Finally, France remains in 2020 the most fertile country in the European Union.
Women have children later
The average age of childbearing continues to increase over the years: “it reached 30.8 in 2020, 30.7 years in 2019, against 29.3 years twenty years earlier“says INSEE. Moreover, if the most fertile women are aged 25 to 24, the fertility rate under 30 declining since the 2000s and this decline has been accelerating since 2015, the report notes. Thus, 100 women aged 25 to 29 gave birth to 13 children in 1999, then 12.3 children in 2014 and they have only 10.6 in 2020. Among women aged 30 to 34, has 13.1 children per 100 women in 2014 and 12.5 children in 2020.
Life expectancy in 2021
According to the 2021 INSEE report, life expectancy at birth is 85.2 years in 2021 for women and 79.3 years for men. “Women gain 0.3 years of life expectancy compared to 2020 and men 0.2 years. Due to the sharp drop in 2020 (− 0.5 years for women, − 0.6 years for men), life expectancy does not however return to its pre-pandemic level (85.6 years for women in 2019 and 79.7 years for men)”, specifies INSEE.
France, however, experienced its hours of glory a few years ago. With 1.92 children per woman in 2016, and 1.90 children per woman in 2017, France was the country in the European Union (along with Ireland) with the highest fertility. Since 2016, Sweden is slightly ahead of Ireland. His total fertility rate (ICF) is 1.78 in 2017, compared to 1.77 for Ireland. Conversely, the five EU countries with the lowest fertility are Malta (ICF of 1.26), Spain (1.31), Italy (1.32), Cyprus (1.32) and Greece (1.35). As for Germany, which ten years ago was one of the least fertile countries in the EU, it now appears in the average (ICF of 1.57 against 1.59 for the whole of the EU).