Becoming a mother would no longer be as strong a desire as before… According to a survey, French women would not want children… and those who already have would regret it. Data that could explain the drop in the birth rate.
- The neonatal mortality rate fell from 1.6 to 2 deaths per 1,000 live births between 2010 and 2019.
- The average maternal age at childbirth was 30.3 years in 2019, compared to 29.3 years in 2010 according to a report from Public Health France published on September 20.
30% of French women of childbearing age do not want children, according to a survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop) and relayed by the magazine She. It is therefore a third of the female population aged 18 to 49 who does not want to pamper.
More and more women don’t want children
This trend has been on the rise for several years. In 2006, only 2% of women did not want children. In 2010, they were already a little more: “6.3% of men and 4.3% of women say they do not have children and do not want them. It is probably less stigmatizing for men to assume this choice than for women, given the roles still assigned to each sex.“, could we read in a survey carried out by Inserm and INED in 2010.
But why do women not want more children? There are several explanations for this cultural change: global warming, uncertainty about the economic future, inflation, epidemics, security risks with attacks or even war now very close to us… In short, the future does not won’t be happy for us, so we’re not going to impose it on a baby!
48% of French women want to remain free, without children
But these are not the only reasons that discourage French women… According to Ifop, 50% of them say that a baby is not essential to their personal development and 48% say that they want to remain free, without parental responsibilities.
Other arguments were also put forward in 2020 by sociologist Charlotte Debest in an article published in Female version : “It is possible that this generation, faced with the thorny question of choice (job, partner, environment, etc.), will ask itself more questions than the previous ones.” and add “the ecological discourse, relatively consensual, first allows the person who holds it to socially assume his non-desire by passing for someone altruistic and no longer selfish”.
Between 2015 and 2020, the average number of children per woman has fallen. But it increased in 2021 to be 1.83 children per woman. In all, over the past year, 738,000 babies were born in France. This is 3,000 more – or 0.9% – than in 2020.
12% of women who have a child under the age of three regret
Another lesson from this study: 47% of women would be willing to use medically assisted procreation (PMA) as a single person. This medical practice allows the meeting of an egg and a sperm thanks to two methods: artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. MAP has been authorized for female couples and single women since 2021.
Finally, the last conclusion of this Ifop study: 51% of mothers who have children under three years old would regret their life before. And they would even be 12% to regret having had a child.
