Births in France: they are on the rise again, after years of decline

“Parenting projects postponed because of the pandemic”

In 2021, 742,100 babies were born in France, or 0.9% more than the previous year. “This rise puts an end to the six years of decline in the number of births observed between 2015 and 2020”specifies the inational institute of statistics.

The year 2021 had however also started with a very marked decline in births until mid-February, which corresponds to children conceived during the first confinement, in the spring of 2020.

the “context of health crisis [liée au Covid] and high economic uncertainty” was then able to encourage couples to “postpone their parenting plans”explains INSEE, which did not observe the same phenomenon of a drop in births nine months after the second confinement of November 2020.

The two periods of confinement were in any case followed by an acceleration in the number of conceptions, notes the institute. Result: the number of births rebounded in March and April 2021, as well as from August 2021 when, until the end of the year, the number of births was “much higher” each month than that of the same months of 2020.

An increase in births among women aged between 30 and 40

The oldest women pulled the birth rate up last year, details INSEE. Births increased by 3.5% for women aged 30 to 34, by 4.8% for those aged 35 to 39 and by 5.3% for those aged 40 or over. On the other hand, the number of births to mothers under 30 is down.

In 2022, the number of births is higher in the first half than in the same period of 2021 but it remains lower than that of the first half of 2020. In detail, the number of births fell in January, nine months after the third containment, then they increased in February.

“Difficult at this stage to know” if a sharp rise in births will occur this year in the fall, like last year, comments INSEE.