One in every 250 babies born in France in 2024 died before their first birthday – a total of 2,700 deaths – and that number has been going up for several years. French MPs have introduced legislation for measures that will examine what's behind the increase, including introducing a registry of infant mortality.
According to data published in April by Insee, France's national statistics institute, infant deaths rose from 3.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 4.1 per 1,000 in 2024 – placing France 23rd out of the 27 countries in the European Union.
A study by Ined, the national demographics institute, noted that “this is a marked drop compared with the 1990s, when [France] was among the best-ranked countries”.
The French national audit body, the Cour des Comptes, in May 2024 called out France’s “very mediocre” approach to perinatal health – the time just before and just after the birth of a child.
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Fewer wards, more risk
Studies and surveys have found several reasons for the rise in infant mortality, including a rise in the age of mothers, an increase in premature births, and a deterioration in the health care system.
Insee data shows that infant mortality particularly affects multiple births – twins or triplets – who are five times more likely to die before the age of one.
Poverty is also a factor, and women living in the French overseas departments are twice as likely to lose their babies than women in mainland France.
Corsican MP Paul-André Colombani, who introduced the bill, sees a lack of access to maternity wards as a contributing factor, and the legislation would introduce a three-year moratorium on closures.
“Today, nearly 900 women live more than 30 minutes from a maternity hospital, and the number of those living more than 45 minutes away has risen by 40 percent since 2020,” the bill reads.
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Role of intensive care
But not everyone agrees that this is the crux of the issue.
"The first cause of neonatal mortality is prematurity and its complications, the second is congenital malformations, and in third place, complications from childbirth,” Elsa Kermorvant, a doctor at the Necker hospital in Paris and vice-president of the French society for neonatal care, told RFI.
Insee data shows a rise in deaths of babies in the first 27 days of life, while death on the day of birth and beyond the first month remains relatively stable.
Kermorvant says the focus should be less on maternity wards, and instead on neonatal intensive care.
"Healthcare provision is inadequate: the recommended ratio of one intensive care bed per 1,000 births is unevenly distributed across the country,” she said, pointing also to a shortage of nurses.
