Shrinking family sizes fall to record low

FAMILY sizes are shrinking, with women having a record low number of children, data shows.

Women who turned 45 last year had an average of 1.9 children, down from 2.21 in their mother’s generation.

The Office for National Statistics figures showed the average family size in England and Wales peaked for women born in 1935.

It has been gradually decreasing since. ONS’S Richard Miles said there were many reasons why females were not having as many children.

He said: “It’s fair to say we have seen a trend of smaller families overall, but there are a lot of contributing factors to that.

“Education is a good example, and also continuing to work, so that all fits in with the trend.”

Only about one in 10 women who reached the age of 45 last year had four or more children, compared with about one in eight for women born in 1944.

And figures show 18% of those born in 1971 had no children at all, compared with just 11% among their mum’s generation.

Rates of teenage motherhood have also dropped, with just 6% of females having a child before they turn 20.

Overall, women born in 1971 were shown to have had 1.06 children on average by their 30th birthday, compared with 1.8 for their mother’s generation.

The ONS data found those born in the 1960s onwards also had fewer children by the time they were 30 than the generations before them.

ONS said the figures, which were collected from birth registration data going back to the 1930s, defined 45 as the age by which most women had stopped having children.