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Fewer births in France in 2016

Population and Societies

542, March 2017

In France, the number of births and the total fertility rate have declined in recent years, and life expectancy has increased more slowly than in the past. Are these changes linked to the current economic climate or do they signal the emergence of new long-term trends? Gilles Pison  describes current patterns and examines their causes

The number of births fell by 4.5% in France between 2014 and 2016 due to declining numbers of women of reproductive age and a decrease in the total fertility rate (TFR) from 1.97 children per woman in 2014 to 1.89 in 2016. Similar decreases in TFR have occurred in most developed countries, but the drop in France is smaller and occurred later than elsewhere thanks to social and family policies which dampened the impact of the crisis.

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