Emmanuel Macron with supporters in Le Touquet (northern France).Image: IMAGO / Bestimage
The French President writes a letter to young adults in France saying: Have more children!
Feb 12, 2026, 11:17 amFeb 12, 2026, 11:17 am
Stefan Brändle, Paris / ch media
France has long been proud of its high birth rate. It was seen as the product of a generous social model and ran counter to the general European downward trend: as recently as 2010 it was still above two children per married couple. Since then, natality has also been falling in France. In 2025 there were only 1.56 children – far below the biological renewal of society.
Last year, for the first time ever, France recorded more deaths (651,000) than births (645,000). The number of people over 65 is therefore higher than that of people under 20.
Sociologists are sounding the alarm: in just over a decade, the number of newborns has fallen by 24 percent. President Emmanuel Macron had already declared biological “re-armament” in 2024. Now he is going one step further: by the summer he wants to send the 29-year-old French people a letter in which he bluntly encourages them to have children.
“It’s time to think about whether you want to have a child or not,” the letter begins, according to the news channel France-Info. In a nutshell: Faites l’amour – makes children! Health Minister Stéphanie Rist further stated that the letter contained “targeted, balanced and scientifically based information on sexual and reproductive health”.
Measures against childlessness
Macron, who has no children himself, is essentially referring to a 16-point plan that the Ministry of Health presented a few days ago. It primarily contains measures to combat increasing infertility. It now affects 3.3 million people – one in eight couples in France.
For women who want to realize their desire to have children later, the number of egg freezing centers will be increased from 40 to 70 nationwide. For women between the ages of 29 and 37, the state covers the costs of freezing.
However, several experts criticize the approach of wanting to directly increase fertility in advance. The demographer Pauline Rossi explained that better labor law conditions were also needed so that women could better combine work and family. Women’s associations are suggesting that paid maternity leave be increased by ten weeks from the current 16 weeks. However, the French state does not have the financial resources to do this. Bonus payments for every child born are considered to be of little effectiveness today. They have also had limited success in countries such as South Korea and China.
The Paris economist Dominique Seux attributes the decline in birth rates less to economic reasons. He believes that the desire to have children is generally declining. The increase in divorces and separations is responsible, but also increasing individualism with the priority of personal needs.
When asked about Macron’s initiative, French young people also cited environmental concerns and feminist arguments against having children. The essayist Corinne Maier also insists on this in a book that has just been published. It has the programmatic title “Non merci”. (aargauerzeitung.ch)