The expense of having children is the most common main reason for preferring to stay childless
Falling birthrates in Western countries have become a growing political concern in recent years, with a particular worry about the impact that fewer children will have on the economy, given a declining working-age population.
But for governments to be able to reverse this trend and encourage more people to have children, they’ll first have to understand what is putting younger adults off becoming parents.
New YouGov data shows that it’s not a case of people simply not wanting to have children: just 28% of 18-40 year old Britons who do not currently have children say they have definitively decided not to do so, compared to 45% who say they definitely do wish to have them at some point and a further 27% who are yet to make up their mind either way.
The declining population problem doesn’t simply seem to be caused by people opting out of having children, but also families being unable to grow to their ideal size. Fully a quarter of parents in Britain (23%) say that they want to have more children than they currently have – but are unlikely to do so. Spiralling house prices have been attributed to parents’ reluctance to have more children, feeling that they cannot afford a property big enough to house the number of offspring they want to have.
An additional 17% of parents say they want to have more children, and plan to, while half (51%) are happy with their current number.
Why do 28% of younger Britons not want children?
Nonetheless, the 28% of childfree 18-40 year olds who say they do not want to have children represent a significant number of people opting out of something once considered an essential life stage.
To find out what is driving this reluctance, we asked those who don’t want children to tell us in their own words why they don’t, with the answers then categorised by YouGov’s AI-powered Topic Quantifier model.
The idea that it is ‘too expensive’ is the most commonly given reason for not wanting to have children, with 28% of 18-40 year olds who don’t want children giving it as the main reason they want to remain childfree. Worry about the state of the world they’d be bringing the child up in is the primary grounds for avoiding children for 16% of such adults.
Not wanting to sacrifice their independence and existing lifestyle is the main motivator for 11%, while an additional 11% simply say “they don’t want to” have children, without further explanation. Some are more blunt, with 9% stating that their dislike of children is the thing that most puts them off becoming a parent.
Do parents regret having children?
But while many might find the choice to have children difficult, it is one that few who have chosen to have them regret. Nine in ten parents or guardians (91%) say they have no regrets at all in having children, with just 3% saying they even have a moderate amount of regret.
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