Insee Analyses · May 2022 · n° 72

Fertility by standard of living: a new estimate

In France, the most modest and the most affluent women have the most children. If they had throughout their life the fertility of the years 2012 to 2017 by age and birth order and the same position in the scale of living standards, the 10% of the poorest and the 10% of the wealthiest would have on average 2.3 and 2.0 children respectively. Women living in middle-income households are more likely to be without or with only one child than at either end of the living standards distribution. The most affluent have their first child later on average (30.0 years, compared with 26.9 years for the most modest).

Between 2014 and 2019, the decline in fertility affected all standards of living. It was accompanied by a slight increase in the ages at childbirth and in the share of women without children, while the proportion of large families decreased slightly. These last two developments were more marked for women of intermediate living standards.