Abstract (EN)

Since the end of the 1990s, France is experiencing a “baby boom”. In 2006, the total fertility rate was two children per woman: it is very close to the “replacement level”. The article tries to explain this French specificity. Since 1996, fertility at young ages has ceased to decline and fertility at higher ages has continued to increase. One explanation of these high fertility rates is the low proportion of women without child and the fact that French women are more numerous than women from other countries among those who give birth to a first child, and to give birth to a second and to a third child. Four great reasons might explain the French singularity: the active family policy; the development of écoles maternelles; the measures to promote reconciliation between work and family and the fact that French people give great importance to the family.