In France, births are falling but perinatal mortality is increasing


What is the state of health of mothers and their babies in France? A survey conducted by the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DRESS) attempted to answer this question by focusing on the subject of perinatal health. The results, published on Wednesday April 27, show that births are fewer in France, while the stillbirth rate is on the rise.

Decline in the number of births

DRESS obtained these results from data collected in hospitals in 2020. The first observation is as follows: the number of births has dropped considerably in France. Indeed, there were a total of 715,485 births in 2019 compared to 698,895 a year later. These figures do not include home births not followed by immediate hospitalization. The same drop is observed in the DROMs, where there were 37,972 births in 2020, or 1,052 less than the previous year. In total, in 2020, 736,867 children were born throughout the country.

Rising stillbirth rate

While births are falling, the stillbirth rate is rising. Stillbirth refers to children born dead after six months of pregnancy. “For the whole of France, the hospital stillbirth rate stands at 8.9 per 1,000 children born, returning to the level of previous years (between 8.8 and 8.9 per 1,000 from 2014 to 2018), after a one-off drop in 2019, where it stood at 8.5”, indicates the site Why Doctor.

This research shows this time a difference between metropolitan France and the DROMs. The rate oscillates between 7.5 and 9.4 per 1,000 children in metropolitan France, it is much higher in the DROMs with a rate of 14.5 per 1,000, except Reunion which stagnates at around 9 per 1,000.

younger mothers

Another finding of this survey: the age of mothers is decreasing in metropolitan France. In 2016, 5.1% of mothers were over 40, compared to 4.8% in 2020. On the other hand, in the overseas departments and regions, the proportion of young mothers, i.e. aged under 20 , increases significantly: it was 8.1% in 2020, against 6% in 2016, underlines the site Why Doctor.

Finally, the prematurity of babies is decreasing both in metropolitan France and in the DROMs. Indeed, it stood at 6.6% in mainland France and 9.5% in the overseas departments and regions, i.e. respective decreases of 0.3 and 0.5 points, compared to the year previous. “The DRESS report specifies that whatever the geographical area, prematurity particularly concerns multiple pregnancies: in one out of two cases, they lead to premature delivery”, specifies Why Doctor.



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