Written by Olivia Nater | Published: February 12, 2026
Our response to an op-ed in The Guardian.
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Re: France’s letters to 29-year-olds to remind them to have babies is a spectacular missing of the point
It’s astonishing that the French government is so disconnected from reality that it seemingly believes difficulty to conceive is the driving force behind the declining birthrate.
It’s also incredibly condescending to assume people need educating about how fertility drops with age. There are likely very few childless 29-year-old women who haven’t repeatedly been reminded about their “ticking clocks”.
There is ample published research explaining why women are having fewer children, and every online forum on this topic gives you a pretty good idea. A recent NPR Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on low birthrates provides a good summary. People feel most limited in their childbearing decisions by concern over the state of the world and affordability, and this seems to hold true across Europe and North America.
But ultimately, as the Redditor comments also make clear, it boils down to this: women are delaying childbearing and having fewer babies because they are finally free to choose what happens to their bodies and lives.
As one Redditor summed up succinctly: “Birthrate is ONLY about the agency and education of women. And I’m sorry but we women are simply not ever going to choose to pop out people at the rate demanded of this defunct capitalist economic system that requires endless growth in a finite world.”
President Macron is not the only country leader with his head planted firmly in the sand, but this strange and intrusive strategy is surely among the more out of touch actions recently taken by a pronatalist president or prime minister.
Sincerely,
Olivia Nater
Communications Manager
Population Connection
