Ideal family size fertility and population policy in western Europe.

Mean ideal family size as obtained in surveys generally exceeds the number of children born per woman at current rates (the total fertility rate). Many writers have concluded from such data for France that French people have fewer children than they would wish. Their reproductive intentions are frustrated by material and financial obstacles which public action has not succeeded in removing. Some examples of this interpretation of the data are provided in this paper but its validity is questioned. The discrepancy between ideal family size and actual fertility is found in all industrialized countries and particularly those in the European Economic Community. 2 averages that come from radically different distributions cannot be compared. The concept of an "ideal" family size expresses a norm that cannot take account of the diversity of individual circumstances that determine the value of the period fertility rate. (authors) (summaries in ENG FRE SPA)