French President Emmanuel Macron outlined two measures to revive France's flagging birth rate at a press conference Tuesday, January 16, promising a reformed "childbirth leave" and a "major plan to combat infertility."

"Our France will also be stronger by relaunching its birth rate. Until recently, we were a country for which this was a strength [...] It's been less true in recent years," acknowledged the president, a few hours after the publication of the annual demographic report by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), which indicates a further 6.6% drop in births in 2023 compared with 2022.

Macron quickly sketched out the contours of this future parental leave, "which will replace the current parental leave." It will be "better paid," shorter than the current parental leave and "will enable both parents to be with their child for six months if they so wish."

The president confirmed that this reform, which had been outlined by the solidarity and family minister in the summer of 2023, will indeed see the light of day. A consultation process began in September with labor and employers' representatives to propose a system that would be more attractive to families, given the low appeal of parental leave as it exists today. In November, Minister Aurore Bergé announced that this "new right" would come into effect in 2025.

Created in 1977 and reformed in 2014, the current parental leave system allows parents to suspend their work after the birth of a child, until they are 3 years old. However, its low remuneration (€429 per month) has contributed to the fact that only 14% of women and 1% of men make use of it. The number of beneficiaries has even halved over the last 10 years, and those who choose to make use of the scheme often do so out of a lack of any suitable childcare solutions. Bergé had, moreover, planned to overhaul the scheme as part of the creation of a future public service for early childhood, designed to address the issues surrounding childcare for children under 3 years of age.

On X, Bergé welcomed the presidential announcement, hailing it as "major progress." It remains to be seen what the practical details of this future leave will be, in particular its remuneration and the timetable for its implementation.

Another of Macron's announcements was the introduction of a vast plan to combat infertility, to enable a "demographic rearmament." This idea is not new: In February 2022, during his first term in office, a report that was intended to inspire a "grand national strategy" had been submitted on this subject to the then-health minister, Olivier Véran.

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