At each end of the scale, one observation: it is the most modest and wealthy women who have the most children.
This is what an INSEE study, published on Wednesday, reveals for the very first time in this duo: fertility and standard of living.
By basing itself on the fertility of women, from 2012 to 2017, and by making projections, the Institute was able to draw up this particular profile of mothers in France.
In 2019, the total fertility rate stood at 1.87 children per woman in France.
But if the wealthiest and the most modest have a similar number of children on average, namely two, "this does not mean that their behavior is the same", specifies Isabelle Robert-Bobée, head of the surveys division. and demographic studies at INSEE.
For example?
"The wealthiest women have their first child on average at 31 years old, or 3 years later than the poorest," she adds.
Later births when the standard of living rises among already comfortable classes, it is the exact opposite observed among the poorest where new sources of income lead to fewer births.
Another difference: for the 10% at the bottom of the scale, the average number of children is pulled up because of a large share of large families.
More than a third of them are believed to have three or more children.
The contribution of women born abroad, with higher fertility and more present in precarious situations, is there an explanation?
Yes, but it should be put into perspective.
Because the more they arrived young in the territory, the more their fertility is very close to the women born in France.
Among the wealthiest, few of them would have children in their lifetime.
This explains their high fertility on average.
The most educated women and those without the baccalaureate have more children
The study also notes a cross effect between diplomas and standard of living.
Among wealthy women, the most educated have more children.
Conversely, among women with a low standard of living, those who have not reached the baccalaureate have the most children.
Again the exact opposite at each end of the scale.
And in the middle?
In the middle classes?
This is where fertility is lowest.
Precisely among those with a standard of living around 1,400 euros per month, or 1.5 children per woman.
How to explain these variations?
“Among the middle classes, who have fewer children than the better-off, our results may suggest that the economic determinant may have an effect.
Some may wish to wait until they have a sufficient standard of living to bring up a child in the sufficient material conditions they would like.
We know in particular that unemployment delays the arrival of the first child, ”recognizes Isabelle Robert-Bobée, before moderating.
“It's still more complicated than that, larger.
There is something that we cannot measure: it is the wish to want a child, which is an essential element.
"