From birth to his majority, your child costs you money. But how far is this sum?
Nothing equals the joy of having a child … Not even its price. Yet January 14, INSEE revealed that fertility continued to decrease in 2024. 663,000 births were identified last year, 2.2% less than in 2023 and 21.5% less than in 2010, year of the last peak births. Figures that are not very comforting for the French economy, including the model of social redistribution – in particular the youngest with regard to the oldest – could be impacted in a few decades.
As often, the nerve of war, even in matters of parenting, is money. According to a survey carried out by the savings specialist Yomonifor 29% of French people, the costs caused by a new child are a major obstacle and therefore influence their desire for birth. And for good reason: purchasing power is a factor regularly put on the table by specialists, such as Anne Solaz, research director at the National Institute of Demographic Studies, in the Children’s Planning.
“Most (parents) want to wait until you have a stable job, accommodation and to fulfill these conditions, we wait longer before having a child,” she explains to Public Senate. Because a child is expensive. And thanks to the analyzes of Antoine Math, economist at the Institute of Economic and Social Research (IRES), collected by the newspaper Ouest-Franceit is even possible to calculate their cost for parents. To your pens …
At the beginning, the hardest financially is the arrival of the first child. Even before his birth, expenses add up: cradle, stroller, diapers … According to a study carried out in 2018 by Frinfinance and the CSA27% of future parents spend on average between 1000 and 1500 euros for equipment even before the baby arrives, and 24% between 500 and 1000 euros. Among them, only 11% of parents spend more than 2,000 euros, specifies Ouest France. And this is just a start!
The more the years pass, the more expenses accumulate, especially in wealthy families. According to Ouest France, from 6 to 9 years old, the latter spend an average of 44,850 euros per year. But this figure increases between 15 and 17 years, until reaching 55,920 euros, against 28,650 euros and 38,400 euros for modest households.
In total, from his birth to his 18 NS, their expenses would still reach 148,720 per year for modest households, and even 231,660 euros on average for the wealthiest. But you consider yourself happy: according to the same economist and expert Antoine Math, questioned by The echoes This time, the education of a child aged 0 to 20 costs the company 674,000 euros per year! An astronomical sum partly covered by the community. What to put the price of your expenses into perspective as parents.