French just want to have children

828,000 children were born last year in France, the highest figure in 30 years, according to data provided by the French statistics office INSEE. The business paper Les Echos sees three reasons for the trend: "Firstly in recent decades more and more women have had jobs, many of whom decided to put off having children until later. ... The second reason is political. The state continues to encourage a higher birthrate with a whole series of measures, from family allowance benefits to daycare centres to tax incentives. ... The third source of our demographic dynamism is more profound: the French simply want to have children. In a country plagued by doubts, lacking perspectives and fearful of a changing world, this desire corrresponds to a wish to project oneself into the future despite everything."

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