The shrinking family

The average “completed” family is smaller than at any time since records began

WOMEN aged 45 in 2018 have on average fewer than two children each the lowest number since records began in 1920, official figures reveal. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women born in 1973, who were 45 in 2018 and unlikely to have more children, have an average of 1.89 children. While that is the same number as those born in 1972, in comparison, women born in 1946 had an average “completed” family size of 2.19 children per woman. Meanwhile, the average number of children that women have by 30 has fallen from a peak of 1.89 children for women born in 1940 to just over one child per woman (1.01) for women born in 1988. More women are reaching their 30th birthday childless, compared with their mothers’ generation. Nearly half (48%) of women born in 1988 were childless by their 30th birthday, compared with 37% for the previous generation (born in 1960) and 25% for the generation before that (born in 1932). The increasing childlessness in younger women may be caused by a decline in the proportion of women married. Changes in the perceived costs and benefits of child-rearing versus work and leisure activities have also an impact, according to the ONS. Greater social acceptability of a childfree lifestyle and the postponement of decisions about whether to have children until it may be biologically too late are also likely factors. Compared with some other countries, England and Wales have seen high levels of childlessness over the past 20 to 30 years. Two-child families continue to be the most common family size, including for women born in both 1973 and 1946. After peaking around 1950, with 44% of women having two children, it stabilised at 38% for women born through the 1960s before declining slightly to 37% for those born between 1967 and 1973. The reduction in large family sizes (those including four or more children) and the increase in the proportion of childless women can also be clearly noted for the post-War generations.

Women in their 30s are now much more likely to be childless than their mothers and grandmothers

Two-child families are still the most common