family policy: long tradition and

experiencing a “baby boom”. In 2006, the total fertility rate was two children per woman: it is very close to the “replacement level”. The article tries to explain this French specificity. Since 1996, fertility at young ages has ceased to decline and fertility at higher ages has continued to increase. One explanation of these high fertility rates is the low proportion of women without child and the fact that French women are more numerous than women from other countries among those who give birth to a first child, and to give birth to a second and to a third child. Four great reasons might explain the French singularity: the active family policy; the development of écoles maternelles; the measures to promote reconciliation between work and family and the fact that French people give great importance to the family.

France is in a very peculiar situation concerning fertility. Contrarily to many other European countries, France is facing a significant fertility recovery during the past five years and maintains a 1,9 fertility rate. No clear and uncontested explanation justifies this relatively positive situation. The more convincing argument, from our point of view, could be the permanent public investment to facilitate conciliation between work and childcare responsibility. In this contribution, we propose to come back on three main issues: the main trends of family policy over the past century; the demographical background of the French situation these last years and the main orientation of the childcare policy. We will conclude by some reflections about the main challenges for the future and their links with intergenerational issues. 1. French investment in demographical issues: A permanent investment French family policy is generally considered as one of the most explicit and intensive one in Europe [2]. It is even stated that the “family issue ” could be the basis of the French social security system, just as poverty was a cornerstone of the Anglo-Saxon Welfare State and workers ’ status that of Germany’s Sozial Staat. Family