To think France's plan to write to every 29 year old reminding them to breed is patronising nonsense??

People think AI will solve the economic fallout of shrinking older populations, it might mitigate some in the future. However western economies are already being impacted by ageing populations & it’s affecting growth now.

France has traditionally had one of the higher birth rates in Europe but even so last year they had more deaths than births which is a significant demographic shift.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/france-data-deaths-birthrate-ageing-population

Yep surely just going up and up will cause it’s own issues.

Do you mean birth rates going up & up? That isn’t happening & wont happen.

There's enough people on this planet, we already ruining huge swathes of it

Population will keep increasing for some time even without babies due to people living longer….

I think there are people who genuinely don’t know.

After ridiculing and insulting me for having my first child at 16 someone I know waited to have children in her late thirties and couldn’t have them even after ivf. It then turned out she had also gotten pregnant at 16 but had an abortion which she now regrets.
She also doesn’t have an amazing career and hasn’t traveled the world despite waiting

I’m 30 and want kids, married, own my own home. It’s not because I’m forgetting that I haven’t done it yet… I’m busy trying to build a career that will support those babies.

Most of my friends are either a) struggling to conceive b) don’t want children or c) are single

Yep surely just going up and up will cause it’s own issues.

@Miggirl I've heard that as well, and that the people who do want children are tending to have one less than they'd ideally want because either they started trying later or its just not affordable.

If I were a government wanting to increase the birthrate I'd focus on housing cost, university debt, and childcare provision - not leaflets though.

Also what's maternity leave like in France? European countries seem to vary quie a bit.

There was an Australian campaign to boost the birth rate too “one for mum,one for dad, one for Australia” along with a financial incentive “baby bonus”. It worked but only briefly, birth rates declined again.

Letters also never work. It's a waste of money. Look at how effective it was for the Remain campaign ten years ago. How many people read the little explainer on what the EU does? Those who weren't interested threw it straight into the bin. It'll be the same with this.

You do the ostrich as much as you like, that truck is real and heading for us unless we tell them to fuck the fuck off.

I don't know French politics that well but the current government is in fact quite hated by the MAGA crowd so that campaign won't have anything to do with them but it's aiming for a similar goal. It's about trying to achieve a reversal of the downward fertility trend, but they're framing it as a health awareness campaign rather than an existential battle for heritage. However they do it though, those initiative are going to come across as very condescending (at best) and downright creepy.

Nobody dreams of a Gilead style theocracy quite as much as the people who panic on threads like this.

Indeed. They dream of a Gilead style theocracy. They won't frame it in overtly religious terms over here but they're following the Heritage Foundation's agenda, which is NOT just about the US but about Europe as well:
https://www.politico.eu/article/the-heritage-foundation-goes-from-maga-to-mega-make-europe-great-again-donald-trump-us-influence/
The Politico article focuses on the HF's efforts around EU countries but we know that the UK's most right wing politicians are already close to them.

Whether this is true, exaggerated, or misleading, if the letter has only been sent to women then there's the issue. Women don't reproduce in a vacuum!

Did you know your time to experience this amazing deal is limited??

Unfortunately, women especially have a very limited time to have successful healthy pregnancies. There’s loads of women who leave it too late and end up needing IVF which isn’t always successful. Or they have children with SEN. You hate children, we get it. No one is forcing you to have children.

You're obviously not aware of L'administraton Francaise @Designless - if you think the UK Government is overbearing, don't go live in France. On the upside, there are many financial incentives for those with children. Plus the quality of life is far better.

France used to monetise children and give medals for the best breeders.

From a government led by a French President who has never had any children.

I got married in 2010 in France. No medical data required whatsoever!

All anecdotal but among my friends and DDs friends, inc her, none are poor, in fact many have 6 figure household incomes, they just don't want kids, they want to travel, city breaks, meals out & buy nice stuff.

I'm always amazed that none have the slightest bit of concern for climate change either.

Fertility rates are falling too, across the world, is this to do with over population?

Declining birthrates are going to be a huge problem in the short to medium term.

France has a particular problem providing public services in rural areas, though i 'd imagine getting a letter like this, regardless of its well meaning intent, would have the opposite affect.

I’ve never read this book but I really should. It sounds amazing. Somebody sends somebody a letter, and then a load of people lie about it.

Exactly. Every time there is something baity about France/immigration/muslims etc in the news you’d think critical thinking skills would tell you that it’s very likely to be some shade of bollocks.

Does no-one ever think why is this being written? Who is paying for it? And what’s their agenda?

I’ve been married to 2 Frenchmen in France and have never had to do this. Kids were born and raised in France. And are now adults. Where on earth did you live that this was a requirement?