The demographic situation in france
Recent Demographic Developments in France Prioux France
Metropolitan France (mainland + Corsica) numbered 61 million inhabitants at 1 January 2006. The population grew at a rate of 5.6‰ in 2005, of which nearly three-quarters was due to natural increase. Since 2004, the rise in immigration from third countries has ceased. The total fertility rate (TFR) reached 1.92 children per woman, the second highest in Europe after Ireland. The increase in immigration has accounted for only one-third of France’s fertility growth since 1997. At the département (i.e. local) level, there is no relationship between changes in the proportion of foreigners and fertility. Despite this upturn in the TFR, the completed fertility of cohorts born after 1960 is gradually moving down towards 2 children per woman. While the number of civil unions (PACS) rose 50% in 2005, the number of marriages remained stable. In 2003 and 2004, divorces began rising again, and the total divorce rate is now close to 45%. The steep fall in mortality was confirmed in 2005, with life expectancy at birth reaching 76.8 years for men and 83.8 years for women. In 2004, the drop in mortality was particularly sharp for women aged over 65. Since 1990, male excess mortality has declined slightly in the 15-70 age group, but women have registered greater gains over age 70. The smallest gains have been around age 45, most notably for women between 40 and 55 years old.
Recent Improvements in Life Expectancy in France: Men are Starting to Catch Up
Meslé France
Life expectancy for both sexes and all ages has risen almost without interruption in France since the early 1950s. Women’s life expectancy at birth increased by 14.6 years from 1950 to 2005, and men’s by 13.3 years. In the last twenty years, the gap in life expectancy between the sexes has stopped widening and begun to close. This is mainly due to an acceleration in the improvement among men, but some slowing in improvement among women under 60 is also perceptible. At later ages, on the other hand, improvement continued to be more rapid for women than men. Although cancer mortality is falling for both men and women, cancer is now the leading cause of death, overtaking cardio-vascular disease, for which mortality has considerably reduced. Among the oldest groups, the exceptionally high mortality due to the 2003 heat wave caused only a brief interruption in the positive trend brought about mainly by lower cardio-vascular mortality. Future improvement will depend on success in the control of cancer and neuro-degenerative disease.
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High Fertility or Childlessness: Micro-Level Determinants of Reproductive Behaviour in Italy
Mencarini Letizia and Tanturri Maria-Letizia
In Italy, recent estimates for cohorts born after 1960 reveal a large increase in the proportion of childless women and a high proportion of women having just one child. Thus, the lowest parities (0 or 1 child) are now more frequent than the two-child family pattern. The aim of this paper is to delineate the profiles of those women considered "deviant" with respect to the modal two-child family norm. We will consider the background characteristics of women and their partners, as well as couple’s characteristics in the first period of their union. This paper examines the motives given by women for not having had a first or a further child and possible reactions to family policies. The analysis uses data from a survey carried out in five Italian urban areas in 2002. Results show that the group of childless women is the most different from the group of women with a two-child modal pattern; characteristics associated with low and differential fertility - e.g. higher education and secularization - are still relevant in distinguishing the reproductive behaviour of younger women born around the 1960s; women having just one child seem to be the group for which policies might be the most successful.
Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Couples in Europe
Festy Patrick
Between 1989 and 2003, nine European countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, Germany, Belgium and France) gave same-sex couples the possibility of having their union registered by a state representative and of thereby acquiring legal rights and obligations. To determine the frequency of these alternative forms of union recognition, the classic measurement tools must be adapted to a new reality that gives prominence to categories that were habitually neglected. Legal recognition of same-sex couples is considerably less frequent than that of different-sex couples, despite the shift away from the institution of marriage. The new laws are probably judged too far short of the marriage laws to be attractive, and at the same time are too similar to them to match the specific needs of the couples they target. In addition, the frequency of registration varies between the different countries, and to a much greater extent than that of marriage. However, the countries that have granted the most extensive rights to registered couples are not always those where the law is the most widely used. Finally, the laws have been adopted in a general context of declining interest in marriage and widespread questioning of traditional family forms. Hence the hypothesis that this environment influences the attitude of the affected couples towards the new legislation.
Short papers
Sexual Activity after Conjugal Separation. Women and the Age Constraint
Beltzer Nathalie, Bozon Michel
Most research on the period following divorce focuses on repartnering. This paper, which uses data from the 2001 ANRS-KABP AIDS survey, looks into a phase prior to repartnering: the pursuit of sexual and dating relationships. Among the persons aged 25 to 54 who had experienced a conjugal separation in the previous five years, four in five had had at least one new sexual partner who, in half of all cases, was already in a relationship with someone else. Men find a first new partner, followed by a second, more quickly than women. Moreover, women over 35 find a new partner less quickly and less often than women under 35. The duration of the previous partnership thus appears to be a handicap for women, while this is not the case for men.
Under-Reporting of Contraceptive Use in Surveys: An Example from a Rural Area of Sub-Saharan Africa
Guyavarch Emmanuelle
In sub-Saharan Africa, large-scale measurements (for an entire country or region) show that the use of modern contraceptive methods is increasing, but slowly, giving the impression that change in this field will inevitably take time. To gain a better understanding of the reasons why the spread is so slow, particularly in rural areas, we made a detailed study of the history of contraception in a rural community in Bandafassi, Senegal. Using several information sources we were able to track the increase in contraceptive use year by year and examine the factors at work. The study presented here shows that, contrary to received wisdom, contraceptive use can spread rapidly in a rural area of Africa with few socioeconomic advantages, but that its diffusion is difficult to measure due to considerable under-reporting, and is by no means guaranteed over the long term.
Analysis of Social Inequalities in Perinatal Health Using Census Data. The Risk of Very Preterm Birth in the Paris Region.
Lasbeur Linda, Kaminski Monique, AnceL Pierre-Yves, Du Mazaubrun Christiane, Zeitlin Jennifer, Groupe ÉPIPAGE Paris-Petite couronne
The main purpose of this study is to show that social inequalities in health can be measured by analysing the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of neighbourhoods of residence. We take as an example the risk of very preterm birth in the Paris region, using data from the Épipage study. For the 1999 census in France, INSEE created new infra-communal census zones called IRIS 2000, and we use census data from these zones to determine the characteristics of different neighbourhoods. Social inequalities are analysed via an approach based on living conditions, which involves calculating a deprivation score using variables which best capture the different aspects of deprivation. We observe that 31% of mothers who gave birth prematurely live in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods (last quartile of the deprivation score), while 21% live in the most affluent ones (first quartile). This excess risk corresponds to an odds ratio of 1.5. Our findings corroborate those of many other studies which have shown that the socioeconomic environment is linked to the risk of preterm birth: the more deprived the environment, the higher the risk. This methodology could be used for other health outcomes and would provide a means to monitor socio-spatial inequalities in epidemiological studies.
