François Bayrou, the man in charge of envisioning France's future, has urged people to “have more children”, warning the future demographic of French society was no longer assured following the biggest birth rate drop in 45 years, reports Radio France Internationale.
The French centrist leader, appointed in September 2020 as the chief of "le Plan" for the France of tomorrow, called for a "national pact for demography” that included controlled immigration.
Bayrou, a former justice minister, said the damage to the birth curve done by Covid-19 was a problem that needed solving.
In 2020, the number of births fell to its lowest level since World War II, with 735,000 children born.
“Demography is the key to the sustainability and generosity of French social [welfare] contract," Bayrou wrote in the Journal du Dimanche weekly, in reference to France’s public financing system, which includes pensions.
He said ensuring France’s demographic future could be done both by encouraging the birth rate – down by 13 percent in January 2021 compared to a year earlier – and by welcoming people from other countries.
"France will have to play both levers in reasonable proportions that guarantee the maintenance of national cohesion,” Bayrou said.
The fertility rate in France has fallen to 1.83 children per woman, compared with 2.02 more than a decade ago. Bayrou estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 births per year would be needed to “ensure the renewal of generations".