A population that can’t sustain itself will eventually cease to exist. And France, facing the lowest number of births it’s ever seen since the Second World War (at a rate of 1.86 per woman), is starting to wake up to that fact.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his government will engage in a “demographic rearmament” to raise the country’s faltering birth rate. The actual plan behind this is a lot less exciting: he plans to revise parental leave and devote more resources to combatting infertility. Right now, France gives 16 weeks of maternity leave, with the optional extension of up to three years, but this is poorly-paid at 400 euros (C$586) per month.
