Fertility drop rates are a major challenge for regional France

Colomier in southwestern France is modern, spread and less appealing.

With the property prices much cheaper, the young couple came here from nearby city of Toulouse to have children. It has grown rapidly and now has a population of 40,000.

However, the birth rate has been declining all over France recently, with Colomier being one of the biggest falls, at 31% since 2018.

France stood out from its European neighbours due to the large number of children born per woman during the year of birth.

Its fertility rate remains above the European average, but is falling sharply.

France’s birth count in 2024 was the lowest since 1919.

Last January, President Emmanuel Macron called for a “demographic recontract” with new reforms that would make it easier for people to have children.

These included an increase in financial aid received for up to six months while both parents were caring for their newborn baby.

However, it may take years for policies to affect the decline of the French demographics – especially since there are four different governments over a year, and reforms have not yet fallen into law. .

In the midwife’s office in Colomier, Lawrence Roisau weighs three weeks old Leonie – Caroline and Teddy Libatt’s second child.

Couples don’t know if they have any more children, but already they are far above the average in the Occitanie region, where the fertility rate is 1.53 compared to the national 1.62.

Lawrence Roisau has been a midwife here for 30 years and has noticed a change in her way of thinking. Her 32-year-old daughter’s friend has few children, she says.

“They try it later in life, but that means it’s more difficult for them to get pregnant — and by the time they reach 40, it’s very difficult for them to have a second child. It’s difficult.”

Ms. Roisau added that she still sees families with three or four children, but these usually come from poor and immigrant backgrounds.

Raising children in France is expensive.

The last official government statistics ten years ago cost around 6,800 euros (£5,700) a year to raise a child. Using these figures, French economists, including inflation, say the figure is close to 9,000 euros per year.

Margaux Biscaye is also a midwife of Colomier and meets many young women who come to see her for birth control advice.

She says the growing number of young women between the ages of 30 with children between the ages of 20 and 30 is not a priority.

Viscay said:

Paola Godard, a 27-year-old worker in the music industry, may consider adopting her, but she asserts that she doesn’t have her own children.

Financially, she could raise children, but she doesn’t think she can provide them with a safe future, she says.

She is worried by the rise of the far right and the potential impacts of climate change in 2020.

The Occitany region has witnessed the second fastest decline in fertility rates across France.

Only Corsica is high as so many young people leave the island for employment opportunities on the mainland.

Catherine Sourward of the National Institute of Statistics and Statistics (INSEE) told the BBC that Octaney’s birth rate fell 8.5% in 2023, compared to 6.5% nationwide.

Sourd said that falls are steep, even among women between the ages of 24 and 35, even among the most fertile women.

Women have slowed down having their first child compared to previous generations, and have settled into long-term relationships later in life, she says.

At the same time, current economic uncertainty is hampering the minds of young people.

The same uncertainty during the 2008 financial crisis had a major impact on the fertility of France and Western Europe, with a sharp downward blip at birth at the time, says Sourd.

In Colomier, the number of elementary school children has fallen by 10% over the past seven years.

Xavier Vuiller is working on education management at Victor Hugo Secondary School. He and his Spanish wife, Noelia, have one child, Paolo, 12, but that remains the same.

“My wife was very enthusiastic about pursuing a personal career… so she could have the same opportunity as a guy. So we took the time to have a child. “I did,” Xavier says.

He adds that in a few years, the number of students will be felt at his school as the number of elementary school students is declining.

The photo is even more similar to the French countryside. According to government statistics, that’s not the case anymore.

In the cozy village of Glatens south of Colomier, sculptor Farid Acezegag lives with his partner Marion Saby, his teacher, his 10-year-old daughter Mael, and a very large ginger cat. .

Farid and Marion agreed to have only one child.

“It’s a model I’m used to, and I was very happy as a child,” Marion says.

“I love my job and when I thought about becoming a mother, I wanted to spend time for myself. I’m not selfish. I’m a child just for her. We wanted to provide the required time.

Farid’s parents were Algerian immigrants. They had four children, but he doesn’t want to go down the same path.

“Like Marion, I was going to have one child,” he said. “The relationships with children in large families are not the same.”