Giving birth in France: costs, sécu, maternity in Nice

This guide is for anyone planning to give birth in France who wants to understand the system in advance: deadlines, money, choosing a maternité, and the baby’s paperwork. The amounts and deadlines below were checked against the official pages of Assurance Maladie and service-public (the version dates are in the “Sources” block and next to the figures). We also spell out what “100%” means and how much you can still end up paying yourself.

Pregnancy in France: how prenatal care works

The first prenatal appointment is with a doctor (généraliste, gynaecologist) or a midwife (sage-femme) before the end of the 3rd month. After it the déclaration de grossesse is filed: the doctor or sage-femme sends it online straight to CPAM (health insurance) and CAF (benefits). A paper declaration is a three-part form: the pink sheet goes to CPAM and the two blue ones to CAF, within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The mandatory minimum after that:

• 7 prenatal consultations: the first before the end of the 3rd month, then one a month from the 4th month until the birth. A doctor or a sage-femme carries them out.
• Ultrasounds: one per trimester. The fund pays 70% for the first two (up to the end of the 5th month) and 100% for the third (from the 6th month).
• Entretien prénatal précoce - an early interview with a doctor or sage-femme, mandatory and paid at 100%. Ameli suggests booking it from the start of the pregnancy, from the 4th month, but says it is “never too late” to ask.
• 7 classes in preparation for birth and parenthood (préparation à la naissance et à la parentalité) with a sage-femme or a doctor, paid at 100%. The number seven comes from Assurance Maladie.

A free alternative is the PMI (protection maternelle et infantile): a département service open to everyone that follows pregnant women and children up to age 6. That is how Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône and Alpes-Maritimes describe it; Hérault and Bouches-du-Rhône add outright that they see patients with or without health insurance.

What sécu covers: the numbers

For those who already have insurance (how to get it is in the Carte Vitale guide), the picture is this:

Everywhere, “100%” means within the fund’s tariffs: the doctor’s excess charges (dépassements d’honoraires) and comfort extras are not included. The forfait hospitalier (the daily hospital charge) is covered by the fund in full from day 1 of the 6th month to the 12th day after the birth.

Employees are entitled to congé maternité: 16 weeks for a first and second child (6 before the birth + 10 after), 26 weeks if you already have two dependent children (8 + 18), 34 weeks for twins (12 + 22) and 46 weeks if you are expecting triplets or more (24 + 22). You cannot give up the leave altogether: you must stop work for at least 8 weeks, 6 of them after the birth (service-public F2265, 1 June 2026).

The daily allowance is calculated from your salary over the last 3 months (within the social security ceiling, €4,005 a month in 2026); since 1 January 2026 it has been at least €11.12 and at most €104.02 a day.

The other parent is entitled to congé de paternité et d’accueil de l’enfant: first 3 days (jours ouvrables) of birth leave, then 25 calendar days, or 32 for a multiple birth. The first 4 days are taken straight away, the rest within 6 months of the birth, in no more than two parts of at least 5 days each. The right belongs to the father and to the mother’s spouse, PACS partner or cohabiting partner, with no minimum time in the job; you tell the employer at least a month before the expected due date (service-public F3156, 1 June 2026).

The extra birth leave from 1 July 2026

From 1 July 2026 you can add the congé supplémentaire de naissance to maternity and paternity leave: paid leave of 1 or 2 months for each parent. It covers children born or adopted from 1 January 2026 (ameli, 27 August 2026; service-public F39685, 3 June 2026).

An employee has to use up maternity or paternity leave in full first. To be paid, employees need 6 months in the social security system and 150 hours of work over 3 months (or contributions on pay of at least 1,015 times the hourly SMIC over 6 months). You tell the employer at least a month ahead, by registered letter or by hand against a receipt; if the leave follows straight on from paternity leave and a month’s notice isn’t possible, 15 days. If you gave notice in time and meet the conditions, the employer can’t refuse: ameli says plainly that it is a right.

Worth working out in advance: this leave can’t be combined with PreParE, daily allowances (indemnités journalières) or unemployment benefit, and for the same child not with the CMG either, the CAF help with paying a childminder. The CMG exception covers children born between 1 January and 30 June 2026 and premature babies who were due from 1 January 2026 (service-public F39152, 26 June 2026). If your child will go to a childminder after the leave, compare which pays better - the CMG is covered in our guide to nurseries, childminders and school.

How much does childbirth in France cost, with and without insurance?

With insurance you pay only the doctor’s excess over the tariff and comforts such as a single room: the delivery itself and a stay of up to 12 days are paid by the fund at 100% of its tariffs. Without insurance there is no single price: the hospital issues the bill at its own rates, so ask for it in advance; the order of magnitude is given by the fund’s own cost - €3,164 for a delivery with an epidural and stay, plus €1,124 for newborn care (tariffs of 1 November 2025). The details are in the table:

These are the fund’s costs before any deductibles, not the bill an uninsured patient would be handed: the sums are a dated order-of-magnitude benchmark.

If you discover the pregnancy soon after moving: for people in work, the right to PUMa opens from the start of work once the application is accepted, and without work it opens after 3 months of living in France (service-public F34308, 13 May 2026). Until then you can have the pregnancy followed free of charge at the PMI centre of your département.

Check what your mutuelle covers for childbirth: a single room, excess over the tariff and other extras are paid by it only if your contract says so.

Public hospital or private clinic: maternité levels

Maternity hospitals are classified by level. Level 1 is for straightforward pregnancies and births without complications, including caesareans. Level 2 has a neonatology unit (type 2a), and some also have neonatal intensive care (type 2b): high-risk and multiple pregnancies are sent here. Level 3 adds intensive care for newborns and adults, for pregnancies that put the mother or baby at risk, above all the risk of premature birth (ameli, 2 June 2026). This is a readiness profile, not a service rating.

The fund pays at its own tariffs, so in a private clinic the amount left to you may be larger: ask in advance whether your doctor charges dépassements. For when and how to register, check with the maternité itself.

Maternity hospitals in the south, by city: levels

If you are choosing a city, we have guides to Nice, Montpellier and Marseille.

The level of each maternité comes from its Santé.fr page (the link is in the name; checked 17 October 2026):

We do not give birth numbers for individual maternités: we have no table for a single year checked against official data, and the figures on hospital websites are sometimes undated and sometimes for different years. Ask the maternité itself for the number you need.

An honest word on language: Russian-speaking gynaecologists and sages-femmes do work in private practice in the south, and their contacts are in the doctors directory and in our chat. For a hospital birth, ask in advance whether you can bring an interpreter.

Paperwork for the newborn and the citizenship question

A birth is registered at the mairie of the commune where the child was born, within 5 days after the day of the birth. The day of the birth itself does not count; if the last day falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day. The declaration is made by someone who was present at the birth: the father, the maternité’s staff, a doctor or a sage-femme; the duty does not fall on the mother. In most maternités the hospital’s own office passes the declaration on to the mairie, but the father can also go to the mairie himself. On the basis of the declaration, the registrar draws up the acte de naissance (service-public F961, 18 June 2026).

The main myth to clear up: being born in France does not make a child French by itself. A child is French from birth if at least one parent is French on the day of the birth, or if a foreign parent was themselves born in France. The child of two foreigners becomes French automatically at 18 if they are living in France at 18 and have lived here for at least 5 years (continuous or not) since the age of 11. It can happen earlier: from 16 (the child claims it, same 5 years since age 11) or from 13 (a declaration by the parents, if the child has lived in France for at least 5 years since age 8) - service-public F295, version of 19 August 2025.

For French citizenship for the parents themselves, see the guide to French citizenship; for their status, the titre de séjour guide.

Until then the child lives under the parents’ status. For travel abroad, a parent with a valid residence permit can request a DCEM (document de circulation pour étranger mineur): it lets a minor return to France, is shown together with the passport, is issued for no more than 5 years, and the application is filed online (service-public F2718, 30 July 2024).

CAF benefits: the prime à la naissance and more

The prime à la naissance will not come on its own. After the déclaration de grossesse, file an application online on the CAF website (for CAF in general, see the CAF and APL guide) - whether you already receive CAF payments or not. CAF examines it during the 6th month of pregnancy. The payments depend on income from two years earlier: in 2026, income of 2024.

Income ceilings (2024 income) for a first child: a dual-earner couple or a single parent - €49,054; a single-earner couple - €37,118 (service-public F2550, 1 April 2026). For the allocation de base, a single-earner couple gets €198.16 with income up to €31,066, and €99.08 from €31,066 to €37,118 (F2552, 1 April 2026).

The amounts are revised every April and the income thresholds every year; check the CAF website before you apply. For housing benefits, see the CAF and APL guide.

Giving birth in a foreign country is frightening exactly until people from your own city are around who have already been through it. If you have questions about childbirth, doctors and CAF, ask them in our chat: one of the members may have gone through it recently near you.

«Vibe South of France» community chat on Telegram - pregnancy, childbirth and life in the South of France

Related pages

• Moving to the South of France: paperwork step by step
• Carte Vitale and sécu: health insurance in France
• CAF and APL: housing benefit
• Russian-speaking doctors in the South of France