Vaudish demography at half mast
In maternities, babies are becoming more and more desired
Like Switzerland, the canton never ceases to see births decrease with almost 400 less deliveries each year. A phenomenon that should last.
After having recorded peaks in the past, the maternity hospital of the hospital ensemble of the Coast welcomes between 80 and 90 newborn newborn each year, like the canton of Vaud which hurts its birth rate.
MARIE-LOU DUMAUTHIOZ
- Switzerland recorded a number of historically low births in 2024 (-1768), confirming a trend initiated in 2019, passing by the threshold of the 80,000 newborns.
- With 361 less babies, the canton of Vaud follows the same trend, despite its demographic development, which seems endless.
- If the CHUV or Rennaz display an astonishing stability, it is in Morges, Yverdon and Nyon that the decline is the most pronounced, many women clearly assuming their choice not to have children, according to gynecologists.
This time, it is confirmed: in Switzerland, having a baby is no longer dreaming! With 1800 births less than in 2023ie 78’256, our country has passed under the symbolic bar of the 80,000, which confirms a phenomenon of decrease in the birth rate initiated in 2019, in reverse of demography and a “Switzerland at 10 million inhabitants».
In 2024, there were 1.29 children per woman on average, a figure that has continued to decrease since 2021. “The decline in the number of births thus particularly slows down enlargements rather than family foundations,” said The Federal Statistics Officeas if the country was becoming a single child’s factory, when couples simply do not give it up.
The canton of Vaud – just like Geneva – does not escape the rule, which does not fail to challenge while the news evokes in a loop the incessant race against the clock to which all the regions are engaged to build colleges, classrooms in containers And places of reception of the little ones in order to cope with the demographic explosion.
Between 2022 and 2024, after The nine months following the COVID-19, Particularly rich in happy events, Vaud maternities have indeed lost nearly 400 newborns each year. We went below the 8000 mark in 2023 (7973, a decline of 391) to reach 7612 last year.
Birth tumble is confirmed in 2025
Particularly concerned, The Côte Hospital Ensemble (EHC) Confirms the phenomenon: “Since the year COVID-19, we have gone to figures below 1400 with a floor at 1235 in 2024”, details Caroline Boesch, communications manager. And the tumble is not over, since at the end of May 2025, the EHC certainly had the happiness of welcoming 437 babies, but that is still 91 less than in 2024.
Like the University Hospitals of Geneva, placed here as an intercantonal comparison, the CHUV and the Maternity of Rennaz resist well, while other smaller maternity units undergo a constant drop in the image of the canton of Vaud.
The choice to give life is obviously a matter that belongs to potential parents, but when the machine is, the repercussions are numerous in the long term, if one thinks only of the financing of the AVS or the shortage of labor.
We also worry in hospitals, since maternities operate 365 days a year and are based on a workforce calculated to meet a 24-hour demand … which is no longer always there. “The organization of maternity personnel provides for a permanent security allocation to absorb a variable flow of patients,” says the head of communication for EHNV in Yverdon. We can thus adapt to these changes. ”
Training undermined
Midwives training is also a concern closely linked to the birth rate, as Carole Wyser, director general of the Haute École de Santé Vaud (Hesav) recently,. “This shows that we have strong dependence abroad, which will become a public health issue”, since local students have great difficulty finding internships, while it is required to practice 40 deliveries to validate his diploma.
In 2024, the maternity hospital of the coast hospital in Morges recorded 89 births less than the previous year, a trend which is already confirmed in the first six months of this year.
MARIE-LOU DUMAUTHIOZ
For Damien Grohar, chief doctor in gynecology and obstetrics at the EHC, the observation is final: “It scares, it’s obvious, but it is not surprising. In my gynecology consultations, the message of many women meets on The fact of not having a childit must be admitted. “
While it was part of the almost natural basic package of most couples recently, myth now has a hard life. “I feel in my patients a general anxiety, which comes from the geopolitical climate, which also includes the damage to the environment to which they do not want to contribute,” continues the doctor who exercises in Morges.
The career first!
The desire to favor your professional career is also very strongly returned as well as the financial question, a long time a taboo. “Even if he can surprise, this is the main criterion today,” says Dr. Grohar. The cost of a child in Switzerland is a real problem, not to mention the difficulty to find a crèche place For women who are often foreign on the Lake Geneva arc and who have no basic family structure – their parents – to help them, just at the level of the guard. If politicians do not find levers, the birth rate will not go up by itself. ”
Between the two Lake Geneva cantons, the drop in the birth rate is slightly more pronounced (in percentage) on Vaud than in Geneva over the last five years, but more impressive in terms of Vaudois gross figures.
Being in particular by the HUG, the CHUV and in Nyon, Dr. Grohar is concerned about the maintenance of all the structures of the canton. “Ultimately, some maternity units – which are required to provide continuous service 24 hours a day – will no longer have critical size and groupings will be inevitable, even if we are still far from Morges. For example, we have just renovated our delivery rooms and the pediatric service has extended. In parallel, there is always a big activity outside of childbirth in our service. ”
Private brands, which are aimed at a easier “clientele”, do not escape the rule, the Cecil clinic having gone from 399 births to 321 in two years, while the figures are not detailed for Birth houses.
The Chablais still attracts storks!
Despite this sky imbued with clouds, the storks have not lost the address of all maternities, since the CHUV (-10) is good, while The Riviera-Chablais Hospital in Rennaz is an exception With 41 births more than the previous year, without being able to really explain it.
These fluctuations, which are now the rule, however require adapting the structure. “The staffing of our maternity staff is dynamically adjusted,” said Rennaz. We have the ability to adapt to activity fluctuations, whether up or down, as has been the case in recent months. ”
There are still thousands of women – and therefore couples – like here, in Morges, to wish the arrival of a child, but anxiety linked to the geopolitical situation, the desire to make a career as well as the economic difficulties are all reasons that push to give it up.
MARIE-LOU DUMAUTHIOZ
The descent started is judged to be “manageable” by most of the hospitals contacted and if no one is still really drawing up, The situation of France – which has closed 264 maternity since 2000 – is still mentioned with covered words, the concept of grouping being diplomatically preferred to that of closure or fusion.
The safety of childbirth is used by well -trained staff, a problem that does not yet strike our country acutely. But it is the subject of a real national public health debate in France, pointed out for its infant mortality Established at 4.1 deaths per 1000 births in 2024.
If births are at half mast throughout the canton, a glimmer of hope points to the side of Rennaz which displays a result up 41 more babies in 2024 compared to 2023.
A tartare or a basket of the terroir to distinguish oneself
Does a Tartare steak reversed the birth rate curve? In Yverdon, it is one of the small gestures offered to mothers after several months of “abstinence” of raw meat products during pregnancy. “In order to respond to this request, the EHNVs have decided to offer them the possibility of savoring a homemade beef tartare. A vegetarian alternative is also offered. ”
In almost all maternities, small gifts are offered to moms or newborns, which can go from the cuddly to the portrait produced by a professional photographer, the flowers no longer really have the odds.
In Morges, the name of each child is subject toA free publication in the “Journal de Morges”a much appreciated ancestral tradition. “We also offer a lounge dinner of the clinic with a menu thought for the young mother, for example with sushi,” explains Caroline Boesch, of the EHC. She confides that a basket of local and artisanal products is also in gestation.
So many attentions which may seem details but which are no longer at a time when everyone inquires and compares “the offer” of maternities like that of a hotel.
Noah and Emma at the top of the hit parade
In a country with many linguistic differences, the Swiss – and foreign inhabitants – seem to agree on one point: first names to give to their children. For several years, Noah and Emma have indeed been The race in mind On the national level (sometimes with Mia and Liam to tickle them).
The Vaudois therefore do not do in originality, since Noah, Liam, Gabriel and Arthur have systematically occupied the first four places for a few years, only Louis, Matteo and Lucas being able to compete. On the girls side, Emma, Alice, Olivia and Eva are the first names most often selected.
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