Vive l’Enfant! a Historical Explanation of France’s Infant Mortality Rate

At its earliest and most fundamental level, individual resilience is the ability of the newborn to withstand the stress of birth and to thrive during the neonatal period, usually defined as the first four weeks of life.  The infant’s and the mother’s health are inextricably intertwined at this time. And their success is substantially influenced by the extent to which familial, community, and national resources are devoted to the pair’s well being.

Several European nations possess remarkably low infant mortality rates (IMR). Public health researchers have long sought to explain why European rates are so low, especially relative to countries of comparative income such as the U.S. Their work ably identifies the importance of pre-term births and neonatal health quality as determining factors, but it is woefully devoid of historical analysis through which a more comprehensive understanding of infant resilience might be gained.

This paper begins with the conclusions of the public health IMR literature, working back through time to examine the origins and development of infant and maternal health practices in France, beginning in 1900. France’s IMR (3.6 per one-thousand) is below the EU 27 average (4.2) and well below the U.S. rate of 6.1. Throughout, the paper interrogates the historical record to illuminate the social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions of French infant resilience and speculates whether the phenomenon can endure.