TRUE OR FAKE. Is the fall in the birth rate linked to pronatalist policies?

On the set of LCI, Bruno Retailleau, the president of the LR group in the Senate, assured that the drop in the birth rate in France was linked to the destruction by “Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron” of the “great family policy“. What is it? According to the specialist Olivier Thévenon, the causes of the decline in the birth rate are multiple. He explained: “One of the factors that explains the decline in the volume of the number of births is first of all that the number of women of childbearing age […] is falling. The other factor is the increasingly late arrival of children.”

A European Phenomenon

This drop in births is a European phenomenon. However, France remains at the top of the countries with the highest birth rate. How to explain it? Among the factors, certain family policies may have had a positive effect, as Olivier Thévenon shows in a study on the subject. However, conversely, can certain policies work against the birth rate? The Ayrault government had reduced family allowances for the wealthiest households. But, today, we still lack perspective to calculate the impact.