Fertility Crisis in Europe: Macron and UK Government Take Action
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Countries like the United Kingdom and France, which have fertility rates about twice as high as South Korea, are also taking serious steps to address their declining birth rates.
According to sources such as the UK’s BBC and France 24, French President Emmanuel Macron stated in a press conference on the 16th (local time) that “France needs to ‘rearm its population'” and mentioned a new maternity leave system and a plan to combat infertility.
President Macron said, “Parents can stay together for six months after childbirth and receive better pay if they wish.” Currently, women in France can take 16 weeks of maternity leave, including six weeks before and ten weeks after the birth of their second child. The plan is to extend postnatal leave to six months for both parents.
President Macron explained that he intends to replace the current impractical parental leave with a system that allows parents to spend six months with their child after birth and increase the support payment during this period. In France, parents can take up to three years of parental leave, but due to low support payments (approximately 600,000 won) and fear of being excluded from work, only 14% of women and 1% of men use this system.
In addition, President Macron mentioned a comprehensive plan to combat infertility, saying, “In recent years, both men and women have seen a sharp increase in infertility, causing many couples to suffer.”
According to the 2023 population statistics announced by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the number of babies born in France last year was 678,000, a decrease of 6.6% from the previous year. The total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, is predicted to drop from 1.79 in 2022 to 1.68 in 2023.
The birth rate in the UK has also dropped to its lowest level in 20 years. According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, the number of births in England and Wales in 2022 was 605,479, down 3.1% from the previous year and the lowest since 2002. The total fertility rate dropped from 1.94 in 2010 to 1.61 in 2021.
Willem Adema, senior researcher at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), diagnosed the factors contributing to the decline in fertility rates as rising housing and living costs, coupled with the uncertainty Brexit has brought to the younger generation’s future.
In response, the UK government is reducing the burden on parents by expanding free childcare. Working parents with children aged 3-4 in the UK can receive 30 hours of free childcare services per week. Starting in April, parents with 2-year-old children will also be able to receive 15 hours of childcare services per week.
The UK plans to expand this service from next September, offering 30 hours of childcare per week to parents with children nine months to school age.
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