I say "official" French press because the two reports I've heard were on France 2 television's evening newscast yesterday and the France Inter radio news this morning. Both are state-owned broadcasting services. It's possible that other news outlets could have a different view of things.
France 2 said something about France being les champions of Europe. We're Number 1! And France Inter said Cocorico ! That's pronounced ko-ko-ree-ko and means cock-a-doodle-doo in English. It's what the French national symbol, the coq or rooster, says when he is strutting his stuff.
Que dit le coq ? Co-co-ri-co !So the fertility rate in France is now two children per woman. That means the French population is reproducing at a rate that will ensure population stability (but then there's immigration...). 2006 was the first time since 1974 that the rate was so high. The overall European average is 1.5 children per woman, according to what I've read.
In 1993, the French rate was 1.66 children. The overall population was aging rapidly, because people were already living longer and longer. The government enacted policies to increase the birthrate, including free childcare for families in which both parents worked for a living. It seems to have worked.
The population of France is now 63.4 million. In Europe, only Germany is larger, with a population of 82 million. France is much larger geographically than Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, or Spain, so I guess it has room to grow.
France will be holding a presidential election this spring. Neither of the two leading candidates, Ségolène Royal on the left and Nicolas Sarkozy on the right, is likely to abandon the government policies that enourage working couples to have children. In fact, both propose to expand the network of government-funded daycare facilities.
From my point of view, there are already far too many people on the planet, so I see the urge to increase the French population as extremely parochial and even short-sighted. But then I don't have any children and have never had any desire to have any, so I'm not in the mainstream on this one. And I'm an old fogey, I guess.
A statistic I find even more worrisome than the birthrate is the increase in the number of automobiles in France since I first came here as a student in 1969. Yesterday, I tried to find some figures on that.
One source said that there were 16.5 million family-owned automobiles in France in 1990. That number had increased to over 28 million in 2001. Another source said there are 36 million cars on the road in France now. Isn't that incredible? No wonder driving is such a pain nowadays.
Finally, isn't it interesting that the French national symbol is the rooster, and that one of the great dishes in French cuisine is coq au vin ? Think about how different that is from the U.S. mascot, the fierce and forbidding bald eagle. Our national bird would eat us if it could!
Just loved your punchline. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think that referring to children, what people worry about is who on earth is going to pay their pensions. Children? When they grow up???
Yes, in 11 years, an increase from 16.5 family-owned autos to 28 M is incredible!!! :-) I think you meant "16.5 M." At any rate, the number of cars exceeds more than half the population. That's a lot of cars!
ReplyDeleteThe bald eagle really isn't all that fierce. It's mostly a scavenger, which is why Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey for our national bird. He thought it was a much more noble symbol than the eagle.
P.S.--BTW, your blog appears huge now. The new format looked different to me a couple of days ago, but now the type is quite large. Intentional or another Mac blip?
ReplyDeleteHi Ginny, thanks for the editing. I fixed the number. As for the bald eagle, it looks fierce. And the blog look: the font is pretty large. Is it too large? I thought it would be more readable. I'm going to take it down a size right now.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived with a French family in 1963, my maman got a discount because she had a "famille nombreuse"--that would be three children. When was a teenager, I didn't think that sounded like so many. Although I never asked why they got a discount (I was a dumb kid), I assume that the government encouraged large families to make up for population losses in the war. My French sisters were born in 1944, 1945, and 1958.
ReplyDeleteI always worry about things like that and what the world is coming to. I think France had the lowest population for many years.
ReplyDeleteI like Coq au Vin but I use chicken breast in it as well as I am not a lover of dark meat. I was so disappointed the first time I ordered it in a restaurant and couldn't find any white meat at all. But, anything with wine in it is usually a winner.
Yes, Ken, I think the blog looks more like its old self now! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThere was a superb series on China on the public tv station. Talk about population. One billion, three hundred million and counting. The series is excellent but the problems are incomprehensible. Time magazine has already declared this the China century. Watch China. Gabby
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