Editorial: Le Monde

• For the first time since the second world war, France has recorded less than 700,000 births.
• The fertility rate has fallen to 1.68 children per woman of childbearing age.
• Many factors contribute to the declining desire to have children such as economic, health, and geopolitical shocks, a lack of universal assistance, and unaffordable housing for young marriages.
• Demographic scientists refuse to take these trends as indicative of a 'demographic winter'.
• Macron has promised a 'demographic rearmament' and intense fight against infertility.
• The declining fertility rate is accelerating population aging in France.
• This reduction in births, coupled with an increase in life expectancy, poses significant challenges for the financing of the French social protection system.

Conclusion: In the face of a growing aging population and falling birth rate, there is a need for an enlightened debate on alternatives such as migration and an equitable redistribution of contributions to preserve the social protection system.

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