Demography: the Côtes-d’Armor looks gray – Bretagne

INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) has just published the latest data on Breton demography. As much to say it immediately, the natural Breton balance is not at the party. The number of deaths (38,600) has indeed increased sharply in 2022 in the region when, at the same time, the number of births (31,100) has fallen: a thousand fewer newborns (- 3, 1%). It must be said that 2021 had been marked by a strong rebound in the birth rate in Brittany, after ten years of continuous decline. Unconfirmed test: the improvement will have been short-lived.

Birth rate: Morbihan takes the lead

If the number of births is down in the four Breton departments, Côtes-d’Armor shows, by far, the biggest drop. 4,951 babies uttered their first cry there in 2022, i.e. 447 less than in 2021 (-8.3%). By comparison, Ille-et-Vilaine is at – 3.6% (11,336 newborns) and Finistère at – 2.5% (7,951).

Morbihan stands out, with 1% more births (6,821) than during the previous vintage. The total fertility rate (TFR) is now the highest in the region (1.91 children per woman). More than the regional average (1.74), more than the national average too (1.80). Undisputed Breton champions in this field for 25 years, the Côtes-d’Armor (1.83) are largely dethroned!

Death: the age is there

Aging department, Côtes-d’Armor is also the one where deaths increased the most, last year, in Brittany: + 495, an increase of + 6.2%. This is two points more than the whole region. Knowing that with 1,500 more deaths recorded over one year, Brittany is, of all the metropolitan regions, the one where the increase in mortality is the highest: +4.1% (+0.8% of the national level ).

It should be remembered, however, that in 2020 and 2021, Brittany, relatively spared by the first wave of covid, had experienced the smallest increase in the number of deaths. It is now overtaken by the arrival at the ages of high mortality of the large generations of the baby boom, illuminates INSEE. Mortality peaks were also observed during successive heat waves in the summer of 2022.

Life expectancy: two years difference with Ille-et-Vilaine

Finally, if you hope to become a centenarian, prefer to live in Redon or Saint-Malo (35), rather than Guingamp or Loudéac (22)! To make matters worse, the Côtes-d’Armor also set the Breton departmental record for the lowest life expectancy at birth: 84.2 years for women and 77.4 years for men, compared to 86.2 years and 79.9 years displayed in Ille-et-Vilaine, which manages to do better than the national average (85.2 and 79.3 years).

Apart from that, we keep the morale on the side of Rostrenen (22)!