{"id":142607,"date":"2025-05-30T12:33:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T12:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/births-care-and-poverty-france-ranks-poorly-among-europes-countries-reports-teknomers\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T12:33:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T12:33:47","slug":"births-care-and-poverty-france-ranks-poorly-among-europes-countries-reports-teknomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/births-care-and-poverty-france-ranks-poorly-among-europes-countries-reports-teknomers\/","title":{"rendered":"Births, care, and poverty: France ranks poorly among Europe\u2019s countries, reports Teknomers."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"single-content\">\n<h2>Continuous Progression: A Decade of Concern<\/h2>\n<p>In 2023, the \u00a0infant mortality rate in France reached 3.9 deaths per 1,000 live births\u00a0, a rise from 3.5 in 2010. This statistic translates to approximately \u00a02,400 babies dying before their first birthday\u00a0 in just one year. In comparison, the rates stand at \u00a02.6 in Spain, 2.5 in Germany, and 2.1 in Sweden\u00a0. France thus ranks among the lowest in \u00a0Western Europe\u00a0, a position it has held since 2021, and it is now confirmed and worsening. The INED study highlights a \u00a0significant increase in early neonatal deaths\u00a0 (occurring within the first seven days), often associated with complications during delivery or insufficient medical care.<\/p>\n<h2>Multiple Factors, Yet a Shared Reality<\/h2>\n<p>Several combined causes explain this deterioration:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Chronic underinvestment in public maternity wards<\/strong>, leading to service closures, understaffing, and births occurring under tense conditions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The rise of maternal precariousness<\/strong>, particularly among young, migrant, or isolated women who have less access to regular prenatal care.<\/li>\n<li><strong>An unequal healthcare system across regions<\/strong>, with increasing medical desertification in rural areas or specific suburbs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The aging average maternal age<\/strong>, which automatically raises some obstetric risks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The INED also notes a \u00a0lack of continuity in postnatal care\u00a0, with sometimes early discharges from maternity wards and insufficient follow-up during the crucial early weeks for detecting neonatal issues.<\/p>\n<h2>Marked Geographical and Social Disparities<\/h2>\n<p>Not all newborns face the same risks. The study shows that \u00a0the poorest departments have an infant mortality rate 30 to 50% higher than the national average\u00a0. Seine-Saint-Denis, Nord, and French Guiana are among the hardest hit.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, \u00a0children born to immigrant mothers, those in precarious situations, or without comprehensive medical coverage\u00a0 face greater risks, primarily due to inadequate prenatal follow-ups. These inequalities are not new, but they \u00a0are worsening with the decline of public proximity services\u00a0.<\/p>\n<h2>Comparison of Infant Mortality Rates in Europe (2023 \u2013 Eurostat and INED Data)<\/h2>\n<div class=\"_tableContainer_16hzy_1\">\n<div class=\"_tableWrapper_16hzy_14 group flex w-fit flex-col-reverse\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"table-responsive\">\n<table class=\"w-fit min-w-(--thread-content-width)\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><strong>Country<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births)<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Trend Since 2010<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Sweden<\/td>\n<td>2.1<\/td>\n<td>Stable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Germany<\/td>\n<td>2.5<\/td>\n<td>Slight decrease<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Spain<\/td>\n<td>2.6<\/td>\n<td>Stable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Italy<\/td>\n<td>2.8<\/td>\n<td>Slight decrease<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Belgium<\/td>\n<td>3.1<\/td>\n<td>Stable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>France<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>3.9<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Continuous increase<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hungary<\/td>\n<td>4.3<\/td>\n<td>Decreasing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Romania<\/td>\n<td>5.6<\/td>\n<td>Significant decrease since 2010<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>A Long-Standing Alarm from Health Professionals<\/h2>\n<p>Midwives, obstetricians, pediatricians, and nurses have been \u00a0sounding the alarm for years\u00a0. They denounce, in particular:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lack of maternity and neonatal care beds<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exhaustion among healthcare staff<\/strong>, faced with rhythms incompatible with personalized follow-up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Precarious health trajectories<\/strong> in the early weeks of life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The paradox is that \u00a0France still has solid public health structures\u00a0, yet their network is deteriorating: \u00a0closures of nearby maternity wards, doctor shortages, and unequal access to specialists\u00a0.<\/p>\n<h2>Toward a Reform of Maternity Services?<\/h2>\n<p>The government announced in autumn 2024 a \u00a0mission to evaluate the maternity system\u00a0, entrusted to the High Authority of Health (HAS). Among the proposed initiatives are to bolster human resources, facilitate follow-up for high-risk pregnancies, and improve postnatal support for vulnerable families.<\/p>\n<p>However, \u00a0no concrete measures have yet been widely implemented\u00a0, and frontline professionals are growing impatient. For them, \u00a0every month counts\u00a0, as \u00a0each incremental increase in the rate corresponds to hundreds of lost lives\u00a0.<\/p>\n<h2>Beyond the Numbers: A Societal Challenge<\/h2>\n<p>Infant mortality is not just a medical indicator. \u00a0It reflects the state of society, the quality of public services, and its capacity to protect the most vulnerable from the beginning of life\u00a0. France\u2019s decline in this area should be \u00a0a major warning signal\u00a0, transcending merely health issues. Protecting newborn lives fundamentally requires investing in dignity, equality, and prevention. According to experts, France does not appear to be on this path.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/category\/general\/\" rel=\"dofollow\">General News &#8211; 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Continuous Progression: A Decade of Concern In 2023, the \u00a0infant mortality rate in France reached 3.9 deaths per 1,000 live births\u00a0, a rise from 3.5 in 2010. This statistic translates to approximately \u00a02,400 babies dying before their first birthday\u00a0 in just one year. In comparison, the rates stand at \u00a02.6 in Spain, 2.5 in Germany, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}