The childless generation

Care timebomb of the 1960s women who chose not to become mothers

women born in the 1960s have similar levels of childlessness to their predecessors whose chances of a family were wrecked by the Second world war, an official study says.

It found they make up a generation comparable to those born in the early-1920s who suffered the disruption and bereavement of war.

nearly one in five women born in the 1960s reached the age of 50 without having children.

But their lack of families was due to pursuing education, careers, never marrying and delaying having children until it was too late, the office for national Statistics said.

now they face old age without their sons and daughters to look after them, it warned. The report on the implications said that men and women born in the 1960s were the children of the baby boom generation, but their own birth rates were only half those of their parents.

‘one in five women born in the post-world war one spike in births did not have children, compared with one in ten women born just after world war Two,’ it said. ‘The proportion of women who remained childless rose following world war Two, reaching one in five for the large cohort born in the mid-1960s, a similar level to women born after world war one.’

The onS said research suggested the movement of young women into education and careers are among the key reasons for the slump in birth rates for women born in the 1960s. more were also postponing having children until the biological window had passed, it found.

The report pointed to evidence that women with university degrees were twice as likely not to have children than their less educated peers.

Those with jobs were also less likely to have children, the study said. The onS warned a high proportion of people rely on their children to look after them in old age. And increasing lifespans mean three times as many of those born in the 1960s will survive into old age than women born in the early-1920s.

‘when care needs become greatest, children are the most common providers of informal care, with just over three in ten people aged 85 years and over receiving informal care from their children,’ it said.

Angele Storey, of the onS, said: ‘The findings show that in the future, there will be many more older people than today who are likely to rely on paid-for care.

‘This is because of higher levels of childlessness.

‘while there are substantial unmet care needs today, adult children are the most common providers of informal care to those at the oldest ages.’

Catherine Foot, of the charity Centre for Ageing Better, said: ‘we urgently need to find a fair and sustainable solution to ensure no one has to go without the care they need.

‘But we also need to do more to prevent people needing care in the first place.

‘This means making sure our homes keep us safe and independent for longer, and that people are supported to stay active.

‘with family and household structures shifting, and many more people set to enter later life in the years to come, we need to wake up to the implications of this age shift for all aspects of our society.’