One in every 250 babies born in France in 2024 died before their first birthday – a total of 2,700 deaths – and that number has been going up for several years. French MPs have introduced legislation for measures that will examine what's behind the increase, including introducing a registry of infant mortality.
According to data published in April by Insee, France's national statistics institute, infant deaths rose from 3.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 4.1 per 1,000 in 2024 – placing France 23rd out of the 27 countries in the European Union.
