Eminent French demographer slams 'grotesque' call by Macron for 'demographic rearming'
The birth rate in France fell in 2023 by 6.6% year-on-year, according to figures released this week by France’s national institute for statistics and economic studies, INSEE. Just hours after the figures were released on January 16th, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the issue during a televised press conference, when he notably raised issues of appeal to a rightwing electorate, when he argued for a “demographic rearming”. In this interview with Mediapart's Youmni Kezzouf, the eminent and veteran French demographer and historian Hervé Le Bras, director of studies at the prestigious School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, gives his view of what he calls the “grotesque” comments by Macron, and the reasons behind the fall in births both in France, in Europe and beyond.
FranceFrance’s national institute for statistics and economic studies, INSEE, on Tuesday reported that close to 678,000 babies were born in the country in 2023, representing a year-on-year fall of 6.6%. The figures cap a progressive decline in the birth rate in France since 2011.
