Key Points

• The proportion of women aged 35 or older at childbirth increased, reaching 24.3% in 2024. Conversely, “teenage” pregnancies (< 20 years old) declined (1.4% in 2024).
• The number of women receiving State Medical Aid (AME) or the Solidarity-Based Supplementary Health Insurance (C2S) was on the rise and accounted for, in 2024, (1.2% and 9.8%, respectively, of women who gave birth in Brittany), suggesting an increase in financial insecurity.
• The prevalence of women who were overweight before pregnancy (36.6% in 2021) and those with pre-existing diabetes (0.64% in 2024) is on the rise in the region, as it is throughout France.
• The proportions of women who smoked one year before pregnancy (29.5%), during the third trimester of pregnancy (15.9%), and two months postpartum (19.0%) are higher in Brittany than those observed across France as a whole in 2021.
• In 2021, 71.8% of women attempted to breastfeed their babies; 63.6% were able to establish mixed or exclusive breastfeeding in the maternity ward; and at 2 months of age, 45% of infants were being fed through mixed or exclusive breastfeeding.
• In 2021, 12.1% of newborns were hospitalized or transferred at birth, a rate higher than that for France as a whole (11.5%).
• Only 85.3% of infants are consistently placed on their backs two months after birth, and 11.1% are primarily placed in their parents’ bed (a risky practice).
• The maternal mortality rate stood at 10.5 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2013 and 2018, a regional rate slightly lower than that of France as a whole (11.1 deaths per 100,000).