The decline in the number of births should be seen in connection with the ‘gender divergence’ between increasingly progressive young women and increasingly conservative young men, observes economist Pauline Grosjean in her column.
The number of births has continued to decline in France in 2025. The fertility rate, at 1.56 children per woman, reached its lowest level since 1918. It is true that most of France’s neighbors are faring even worse, and France still holds its – rather relative – status as a champion of birth rates. This decline is a universal and long-term phenomenon, with explanations that have shifted over time.
The initial phase, which has been the most studied, is that of the demographic transition, marked by the shift from a regime of high mortality and fertility to one of low mortality and fertility. France was already an exception, having started its demographic transition in the 18th century, before other countries. Without this early transition, some economists estimate, France’s population would today stand at 250 million.
Okay, first of all thank you for all the info you just dropped on me, what a thoughtful, thorough post.
And yes, perhaps there is something like that in the Western world, specifically America. I didn’t know about the project and the numbers they wanted to reach. Scary. Because they’re not even facetious anymore, they just tell it all, it might just be actioned (and the UK, where I currently reside, often follows America’s example so there’s that…). But the future is uncertain so let’s hope the humanity of the American people will lead them somewhere else, perhaps with some balkanization involved because some ideologies are very geographically entrenched. 🙏