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How did France reverse its birth rate? Discover the secret of this European country's success!
With birth rates declining in most countries around the world, France has managed to buck the trend over the past few decades and serve as a model for other countries. France's success is not accidental, but is based on effective family policies and measures, which not only provide extensive support to families but also encourage childbirth.
Legitimate family policies, combined with appropriate economic incentives, have allowed France to successfully increase its birth rate.
According to statistics, France's total fertility rate was once lower than 1.66 in 1994, but with the government's active intervention, this number stabilized at around 2.0 from 2008 to 2015. The country's package of measures is based on two key elements: family allowances (les allocations familiales) and the family tax coefficient (le quotient familial). Laws and policies are designed to ensure that families with many children enjoy the same standard of living as families without children.
Such policy promotion gives families more confidence in facing the financial burden of having children. At the same time, since World War II, France's emphasis on family tradition requires that every family should support multi-child families, so that families with a third child can receive corresponding subsidies and tax exemptions.
The French tax system is designed to allow families with children to enjoy greater tax benefits, which incentivizes families to be more willing to have children.
In addition to tax incentives, France also provides additional support for single-parent families and low-income families to ensure that every child has a fair chance. In the context of the growth of women's participation in the labor market, the French government has also launched financially supported parental leave and child care services. This series of measures has significantly improved women's reproductive choices and enhanced their competitiveness in the workplace.
In 1994, the French government further expanded the educational allowance (l'allocation parentale d'éducation) for families with two children to promote family happiness and women's work participation. These policies not only improve the economic stability of families, but also enhance people's confidence in childbearing.
The implementation of various family support policies makes French families feel no longer alone when facing expenses such as education and medical care.
In addition, the French medical insurance system also covers all pregnancy and childbirth-related medical expenses, which greatly reduces the medical burden of pregnant women and newborns. For example, medical expenses after six months of pregnancy can be fully reimbursed through the French national social insurance system, giving women a greater sense of security during pregnancy.
For pregnant women, France also provides statutory maternity leave, which allows more women to find a better balance between work and family. These measures have enabled France to maintain a relatively high birth rate, even amid a general decline in birth rates worldwide.
The French measures aim to make having children no longer seen as a burden, but as part of the family.
Compared with other countries, for countries with low birth rates such as Japan and South Korea, the French case shows a clear trend: economic support, gender equality and social security policies are key factors in increasing birth rates. In France, the government's role is not only to formulate policies, but also to be an active participant in promoting fertility and social welfare.
Looking at France's successful experience, we can see that by building a society that supports a diverse family structure, France not only reversed the decline in birth rates, but also provided a good reference model for other countries. So, in a world facing current fertility challenges, can we also learn from these successful experiences to seek to balance the relationship between economy and population?
