Infant mortality in France stood at 4.08 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to Santé publique France. This placed the country 21st out of 27 in the European Union. The indicator has no longer been declining since the mid-2010s, unlike the trend observed for several decades.
This article explains exactly what the indicator measures, where the increase is occurring, and what public data do—and do not—allow us to conclude about its causes.
What does infant mortality in France measure?
Insee defines it as the ratio between the number of children who die before their first birthday during the year and all children born alive in the same year. It is expressed per 1,000 live births.
Statisticians divide it into three periods, which do not reflect the same realities.
- Early neonatal mortality: deaths occurring from 0 to 6 days of life.
- Late neonatal mortality: deaths occurring from 7 to 27 days.
- Post-neonatal mortality: deaths occurring from 28 to 364 days.
This breakdown matters because the possible areas for action differ. The first hours mainly involve perinatal care. The following months involve the living environment, infections, and accidents.
A related concept not to be confused with it
Infant mortality should not be confused with stillbirth, which counts children born without signs of life. These two indicators have distinct definitions and follow separate trends. Mixing them leads to inaccurate international comparisons.
Where exactly is the increase occurring?
The perinatal health bulletin published by Santé publique France, covering the period from 2012 to 2024, provides a clear answer. Both early neonatal mortality and late neonatal mortality are increasing.
Post-neonatal mortality, meanwhile, has remained stable over the period. The deterioration is therefore concentrated in the first month of life, and even more so during the first week.
This finding guides interpretation. It does not indicate a general deterioration in infants’ living conditions, but rather an issue occurring around birth itself.
What do we know about the causes?
In 2023, approximately half of infant deaths were linked to conditions originating in the perinatal period. This category includes complications of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the consequences of extreme prematurity.
Santé publique France points to an important limitation in the analysis. Since 2020, an increasing proportion of death certificates has been incomplete, particularly for very early deaths. Any firm causal conclusion must therefore remain cautious.
The role of extreme prematurity
The overall preterm birth rate is declining slightly: 6.7% of births in 2024, compared with 7.3% in 2012. Extreme prematurity, however, is following the opposite trend. Births between 22 and 27 weeks accounted for 0.43% of births in 2024, compared with 0.31% in 2012.
These very early births carry the greatest weight in mortality during the first days of life. We examine these data in more detail in our article on prematurity in France.
Changes in the profile of pregnancies
Several risk indicators have increased over the period. Gestational diabetes affected 15.0% of pregnancies in 2024, compared with 7.5% in 2012. The proportion of mothers aged 35 or over reached 25.8% in 2024, compared with 19.1% in 2012.
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy have followed the same trajectory, reaching 5.5% in 2024 compared with 5.1% in 2019. These changes are not sufficient to explain the increase on their own. They are contextual factors explicitly mentioned by the authors.
Prenatal care
The bulletin reports that 62.1% of women received an early prenatal consultation in 2024. Only 24.9% received an early postnatal consultation. These partial coverage rates represent an identified area for action, although a direct causal link with mortality cannot be established from these data alone.
How does France compare with Europe?
21st place out of 27 is the result from this bulletin that has received the most attention. France ranked among Europe’s best-performing countries in the 1990s and 2000s.
Two precautions are necessary before making any comparison. Countries do not record births at the limits of viability, around 22 weeks, in the same way. More comprehensive registration mechanically increases the measured rate.
That said, this bias does not eliminate the trend within France, which is measured using a consistent method over time. The stagnation and subsequent rise in the French rate exist independently of the European ranking.
What these figures do not say
They do not assign individual responsibility. Infant mortality is a system-level indicator, sensitive to the organization of maternity services, the demographics of healthcare professionals, and prenatal care.
Nor do they make it possible to draw conclusions from a single year. The numbers involved remain small compared with the number of births, making annual variations unstable. Only a trend over several years is meaningful.
Finally, they must be understood within a particular demographic context. Insee recorded 645,000 births in 2025, 2.1% fewer than in 2024 and the lowest level since 1942. We examine these data in our article on birth rates in France.
Prevention measures accessible to families
The neonatal share of mortality primarily concerns the healthcare system. The post-neonatal share, while stable and not zero, leaves more room for practical everyday measures.
- Safe sleep practices, the primary recognized measure against sudden unexpected infant death, described in the recommendations of the Haute Autorité de Santé.
- Avoiding tobacco smoke during pregnancy and after birth, with data discussed in more detail in our article on secondhand smoke exposure.
- Newborn screening, carried out at the maternity unit and now covering several rare diseases.
- Vaccination, particularly against whooping cough, with data presented in our article on whooping cough in infants.
- Prevention of household accidents, which has the greatest impact after the neonatal period and is covered in our article on everyday accidents.
Key takeaways
Infant mortality in France reached 4.08 per 1,000 live births in 2024. The increase is concentrated in the first month of life, particularly during the first week. Mortality after 28 days remains stable.
Approximately half of deaths are linked to conditions originating in the perinatal period, amid an increase in extreme prematurity. The deteriorating quality of death certificates currently limits detailed analysis of the causes. Other questions are addressed in our frequently asked questions.
Sources
- Santé publique France, Perinatal and early childhood health in France between 2012 and 2024, national bulletin, 2024 data.
- Insee, 2025 Demographic Report, Insee Première No. 2087.
- Insee, definition of the infant mortality rate, demographic series.
