Pioneering family policies have helped France claim the EU’s fertility crown. Demography expert Gilles Pison says his country might have to get creative once more to sustain good conditions for its growing elderly population.
 | “In France, having children and working are not incompatible - you can do both.”Gilles Pison, researcher at the French National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) in Paris |
Why are French women having more children than neighboring countries?
It is not clear what the most important factor is, but we do know that people do not have children just because the government says they should.
There have long been family policies in France, and they have been maintained no matter what kind of government - left or right. It's a kind of consensus that governments should help families, and the idea behind this is that demographic growth is good and France has room for more inhabitants. This family policy is a mix of different measures, from tax reductions to offering daycare options to working parents.
When did the government start intervening?
Well, France was actually the first country in Europe to experience a fertility decline. It started more than two centuries ago, just before the French Revolution. In this period, couples started to control their fertility. As a result, French fertility declined during the 19th century compared to neighboring countries - Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands - where people continued to have many children until the early 20th century.
French politicians worried that France had lost the war of 1870 and was losing influence because its rate of population increase was much lower than in neighboring countries. So in the early to mid-20th century, the government decided to promote more rapid population increase through policy measures. Back then, no other country was thinking about this. The Germans were laughing at the French politicians who were so afraid of a decreasing population. It is unclear whether or not the policies had any effect, but it is true that France was the pioneer in the development of family policy.
 | Demographic Change Study (click on the image to download)Demography: A global trend |
Aside from government family policy, what else could explain the relatively high birthrate in France today?
There is this idea in France that having children and working are not incompatible - you can do both. In some countries, you are considered a good mother if you spend all of your time with your baby. If you put a two- or three-month-old baby in the nursery, some would say that you are not a good mother, and that it is not good for the child.
In France, working women have been putting their children in daycare for at least a century. It's not considered a bad idea to put your children into nurseries from a very young age. Sometimes it's even considered good for the child, because he or she is socialized with other children. The perception of a good mother or father is a bit different.
All of Europe is aging. How will this trend affect France?
The population will continue to age - that's for sure. Over the next 40 years, you will have the baby boom age group moving into the over-65 bracket. One result is that the number of deaths will increase a lot. Last year, France had around 800,000 births and a little over 500,000 deaths - so many more births than deaths. It's the main reason why the French population is increasing. This will come to an end, even if fertility remains around two children per woman. So, if the population is to grow over the next decades, it will only be because of immigration.
Will increased longevity impact the way French people live and prepare for retirement?
People are not really conscious that the number of years after retirement is increasing. Perhaps they will have to think more about what they will do during these 20 to -30 years after their retirement.
The real question is how to live in good conditions when we are older. The current aged population is privileged because they aren't so many, and they benefit from the pension systems developed 50 years ago. The aim is to have even better conditions for the aged of tomorrow than for the aged of today. In our industrialized countries, it should be possible.
editor: Valdis Wish
publishing date: February 19, 2008
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