In metropolitan France, before their delivery, 64% of women wanted epidural anaesthesia, and 21% of women considered it; 82% of women who gave birth vaginally had an epidural.
Interventions during delivery are stabilizing or decreasing: between 2010 and 2016, the percentage of caesarean deliveries was stable (20%) and the rate of episiotomy decreased (27% in 2010 and 20% in 2016 in metropolitan France).
In metropolitan France, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 52% in 2016, and has dropped since 2010, whereas it was increasing before then, after implementation of a policy actively promoting breastfeeding. In 2016, 83.3% of women breastfed their babies in the overseas departments and regions.