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1 Births have plummetted in recent years...
Being childless at 30 is the the new normal.
The number of births in the UK has fallen sharply from its recent high of 810,000 in 2012 to just 660,000 in 2024.
The share of women in England and Wales who haven’t had a child by age 30 has surged from 48 per cent for those born in the late 1980s to 58 per cent for those born in the early 1990s.
2... ... most recently among non-graduates.
The latest twist in in the tale has been the sharp rise in the number of non-graduate women (who have historically had children earlier) in their mid-to-late-20s who do not yet have children. This has increased from a third (33 percent) in 2011 to over half (54 percent) by 2023.
3 this isn’t all about preference
There are many reasons people choose to delay or forego having children - from preference, to priorities, to partners.
But, crucially, the gap between the average number of children women ideally want and the number of children they are having has grown – suggesting that other barriers are at play too.
4 housing and finances are partly to blame
Non-graduates in their twenties are almost twice as likely to be living with their parents compared with the turn of the millenium.
Young millennials that do move out are more likely to rent than own, with the proportion who are homeowners roughly halving over a similar time period.
Three-in-ten women and one-in-four men cited financial constraints as a reason for not trying for a baby.
Is Britain facing a baby bust?
Our latest research assesses Britain’s falling birth rate since the early 2010s.
Read more: buff.ly/1wohCc2
