FRANCE’S AGEING POPULATION

Grey River Argus, 9 August 1948, Page 2

FRANCE’S AGEING POPULATION

(From Odette Lareuerre, Reuters Cnrresnondent). PARIS. (Bv Air Mail).

■Of every 100 French neonle over f he age or 21 to-day. 29 are over 50 years old. In 1965. if present tendencies continue, there will he 34 in everv 100 over 21, while at the turn nf the century, it will have risen to 40. Economic problems caused bv the increasing number of aged and unproductive members of French society were studied by a recent congress of nopulatinn exoerts. They recommended the following measures: —

(1) Intensive immigration as far as France’s housing shortage will allow. (2) Revision of retirement and superannuation laws. The Congress considered that' retirement is forced on many people too early in life and without account being taken of their real productive capacity. The congress or organised by the French National Alliance to prevent depopulation. Other bodies represented at the congress were the National Institute of Demographic Studies, the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, and the Institute of Hygiene. In its recommendations concerning retirement, the congress asked that medical tests should be made before a man is forced to retire so’that, if he is still fit, he may be either left where he is or transferred to a less tiring job. This system was successfully used in Britain and the United States during the war, the congress recommendations said, and France’s economic needs demanded that it should be applied rapidly and extensively in France in peacetime. Steady Decline Statistics quoted at the congress showed that as the proportion of old people in France’s population increased—the inevitable result was that the number of fully grown active members of society—those aged between 20 and 39 —steadily declined. Other figures showed: the middleage group (40-59) rose from 22.7 per 100 in 1911 to 26.4 in 1948; the over 60 group rose from 12.4 in 1911 to 15.9 in 1948; the under 19 group fell from 34.6 in 1911 to 29.8 in 1948; and the increasing length of the average life is due mainly to scientific discoveries which have cut the incidence ..of disease. In the middle ages and up to the end of the eighteenth century, the average length of human life in France was between 20 and 26. By the middle of the nineteenth century it had risen to 39. Since the great era of scientific discovery began in the middle of last century, expectation of life in France has gone up to an average of 60-62 for women and 58 for men. The higher average for women is largely due to biological reasons, though the higher rate of alcoholism among men also has a good deal to do with their earliei’ death. Since an elderly person produces little or nothing, yet must be supported by the efforts of society, the rise in expectation of life has brought about a series of economic and social problems which the congress outlined in calling for a compensating rise in the birth rate and in issuing a warning that French national wealth must steadily decrease if a better balance is not reached betwen the older and younger age groups.