It is a scenario that haunts parents: losing their child, a few days, weeks or months after birth. In France, in 2021, however, 2,700 children lost their lives less than a year after their birth, according to an INSEE report published this Wednesday. Two statistics presented are alarming. In the first place, the infant mortality rate that “has not decreased since 2005.” Then, the fact that France remains above the European Union average, and has been for 6 years.
In 2021, the last year for which data was published, France had 3.7 deaths per 1,000 “live births,” a total that excludes stillbirths. A “historically low” rate according to INSEE, which has data dating back to 1901. For example, a hundred years ago, in 1923, France had 101.8 deaths per 1,000 births. If the fall is considerable, the trend is no longer correct, the rate no longer falls, worse, between 2014 and 2017, it even “increased a little”.
We must also compare the French situation with that of our direct neighbours. On average within the EU, there were 3.3 deaths per 1,000 births in the same year. Therefore, France pulls the average upwards, unlike the Nordic countries. In Sweden, for example, the rate is only 2.4 per 1000. In Finland it is 1.8, twice less than in France. By contrast, France generally fares better than its Eastern European neighbors.
The first week, danger zone
INSEE statistics show that newborn mortality is mainly concentrated in the seven days following birth, so we speak of “early neonatal mortality”. This is half of the cases (51%), or 1,350 children in 2021.
The rest is distributed almost equally between deaths between 7 and 27 days after birth (23%) and between 28 days and a year (26%). Twenty years ago, 36% of infants died before putting out their first candle, that is, ten points more.
If France suffers when compared to some of its neighbors, the data shows strong differences within its own territory. The infant mortality rate is three times higher in Mayotte than in PACA or Pays de la Loire. In general, the overseas territories are the ones that suffer the most losses. In order, Mayotte (8.9), Guyana (8.2), Guadeloupe (8.1), Martinique (7.2) and finally Réunion (6.7), which remains well above the national average. In Île-de-France, there are 4 deaths for every 1,000 births.
Globally, UNICEF estimates that several factors influence the infant mortality rate. Inequality in access to care, especially among the most precarious, is one of the most important. Being born in a “very poor environment” increases the chances of death by 40%. Also, “babies whose mothers have no education are twice as likely to die in the first few days than those whose mothers have secondary education.” This is particularly true in developing countries.
Source: BFM TV
