Overview
- The Inspection générale des affaires sociales reported a steady rise in infant mortality to 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024 after about a 1% annual increase from 2014 to 2024.
- Igas identified multiple drivers including older maternal age, a rise in multiple pregnancies, growing social and territorial inequalities, and weaknesses in neonatal critical care and pregnancy follow-up.
- The report states that changes in population composition, notably a larger share of pregnant women of foreign origin, may account for more than one-third of the overall increase.
- Igas rejected the idea that closures of small maternity units are the primary cause, citing European countries with both centralized and distributed maternity models that achieve better outcomes.
- The report was completed in January but published on August 5 after media exposure, prompting Health Minister Stéphanie Rist to launch prevention steps, order revisions of perinatal decrees, and defer wider maternity reorganisation decisions to October.