Even less 7% in the first half of 2023. The number of births continues to fall in France after a year 2022 which has already reached its lowest level since the end of the Second World War, INSEE announced on Thursday. “In the first half of 2023, there are 24,400 fewer births than in 2022, a drop of 6.8%,” indicates the National Institute of Statistics. “Year-on-year, June 2023 is the 12th consecutive month of decline. »
“Apart from the months of January and February 2021, affected by the confinement of spring 2020, the months of the beginning of 2023 correspond to the lowest numbers of monthly births recorded since 1994”, first year where monthly data are available , indicates INSEE.
Less 20.8% compared to the post-war period
During the year 2022, 726,000 babies were born, or 2.2% less than in 2021, indicates INSEE, confirming data published in January. Births are 20.8% lower than the post-war peak in 1971.
Since 2011, births have declined every year, with the exception of 2021, coming after the Covid-19 lockdowns. In twelve years, between 2010 and 2022, the decline reaches 12.8%. Cumulatively over the first eight months of 2023, there are around 35,000 fewer births than over the same period of 2022, a drop of 7.2%.
All regions, all age groups
“If this trend continues over the year, the number of births should fall below 700,000 in 2023,” Chloé Tavan, head of the demographic surveys and studies division at INSEE, commented for AFP. “The decline in births is observed in all regions and all age groups, with the exception of mothers over 40, a reflection of later motherhood,” she continues. “The number of births to mothers aged 40 and over increases by 3.3% between 2021 and 2022,” notes INSEE.
For women aged 25 to 29, births fell by 2.7% between 2021 and 22, and by 3.6% for those aged 30 to 34. In 2022, mothers are aged on average 31.2 years, an age which has “continuously increased since the second half of the 1970s, when it was at its lowest at 26 years”, indicates INSEE.