France targets 'biological clock' to reverse low fertility

The French government intends to contact every 29-year-old by post, encouraging earlier family planning before age-related fertility decline.

The message will warn that fertility typically decreases with age and will flag services for people experiencing trouble conceiving, reported The Times newspaper.

The mailing is one piece of a 16-step strategy to boost births, with an emphasis on countering infertility, which is estimated to affect one in eight couples.

Stephanie Rist, minister of health, families, autonomy and disabled people, said the letter would not amount to a directive to have children. "The role of politics is not to be prescriptive but to open up possibilities," she said.

Officials said they chose to target 29-year-olds because, in France, egg freezing at that age does not require a medical certificate. The letter will emphasize that social security covers the cost of freezing and storing eggs for women aged 29 to 37.

The letter will also address the biological clock for both men and women. "The biological clocks are not the same but men have one too," said one official, quoted by The Times.

According to the health ministry, the goal is to "avoid the 'if-only-I'd known'" stage later in life.

"This measure aims to reinforce the power of young adults to act, without injunctions or social pressure, and will therefore logically contain information on contraception and sexual health," it said.

Paul Brunstein-Compard, 29, a Paris-based stand-up comedian, said mailing people in his age group was "a little bit treating them like children".

He said he hopes to have children but is not yet in a secure financial position, adding that "procreation is creating one more human who is going to pollute and consume".

"It is a secondary reason for me, but I have friends who are clear they do not want children because of that," he said.

He pointed out that military recruitment drives are everywhere in France, especially after President Emmanuel Macron promoted a voluntary national service.

"I don't think I'd want a child for them to be sent to the front in Ukraine," he said.

France historically outpaced most of Europe on fertility, but the rate has dropped to 1.56 children per woman, which is the lowest since 1918.

Although several European countries, including Italy, are lower still, the slide has alarmed Macron, who has urged "demographic rearmament".

Analysts warn that, alongside an aging population, a shrinking birth rate signals economic strain. If current trends persist, by 2070 only half the population will be of working age, with roughly 30 percent aged 65 or older. Growth and tax receipts are forecast to decline while public spending rises.

Ministers propose expanding fertility preservation centers, where eggs are frozen and stored, from 40 to 70, and say they may, for the first time, authorize private facilities to operate in this sector.

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com