France registers 2021 rise in births after 6 years of decline: INSEE

PARIS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- In 2021, 742,100 babies were born in France, which means that there were 2,033 births per day, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) said in its annual report on Thursday.

In 2020, 735,000 children were born in France, the lowest number since World War II.

The increase "puts an end to six years of decline in the number of births between 2015 and 2020," it said.

There was a temporary increase in the number of births in March and April 2021, and again between August and the end of the year, nine months after the country's second COVID-19 confinement, the INSEE said.

While the three general COVID-19 confinements in France did not have the same impact on births, "at the end of each confinement, conceptions accelerated."

"Women aged 30 to 34 were the most fertile, with births up by 3.5 percent. This increase is even higher for the older mothers, 4.8 percent up for 35-39-year-olds and 5.3 percent up for women aged 40 or over," the INSEE said.