According to Insee statistics, the proportion of births in France outside of marriage crossed the 50% threshold in 2007, reaching 59.7% in 2024. This marks a significant shift from earlier decades, when fewer than 10% of births occurred outside of marriage before 1978. Insee notes that a series break linked to the renovation of birth certificates in 2023 has affected the most recent figures, with measured shares of out-of-marriage births varying between 58.5% in 2023 and over 65% in 2022. This methodological change requires caution in interpreting recent data, though the overall trend of increasing out-of-marriage births remains clear. The shift is attributed to the spread of PACS (Pacte Civil de Solidarité) and free unions, as well as increased paternal recognition, which rose from 39% in 1975 to 84% in 2017. These developments have eroded the traditional monopoly of marriage as the primary framework for family formation. Insee recalls that the proportion of births outside of marriage had already exceeded 20% in 1986, then 40% in 1997, before continuing its course up to 60% in 2017, showing a nearly linear trajectory over several decades. The decline of marriage as an unavoidable step in a couple's life is explained by several converging evolutions, including a decrease in the average age of marriage and a preference for couples to move in together, have children, and possibly marry later or not at all. Marriage remains present in collective representations, ceremonies, and traditions, but it is no longer seen as a prerequisite for forming a family. It has become one option among others, chosen for patrimonial, symbolic, or personal reasons, rather than imposed by social pressure. Insee directly attributes this shift to the spread of PACS and free unions, which have offered a more flexible legal recognition than marriage. Living together without being married is no longer seen as a temporary or precarious situation but as an assumed life choice, sometimes even definitive. This new family landscape is accompanied by an evolution in paternal recognition, which has increased significantly over time. In 2017, 84% of children born outside of marriage were recognized by their father at birth, compared to only 39% in 1975. This progress indicates that the absence of marriage no longer implies a father's disengagement, as administrative procedures have become routine and out-of-marriage filiation now benefits from legal security comparable to that of married couples. This demographic shift indicates that the diversity of life paths has become the norm in France, and no longer the exception it represented in the last century. The statistical shift ultimately reveals an expansion of the ways to build a family, with PACS, free unions, and increasingly systematic paternal recognitions contributing to a new plural family model. One open question remains: will this movement continue to intensify in the coming years, or could marriage experience an unexpected return in the preferences of younger generations?