Is your family shrinking?

I have over 40 first cousins, my children have 3 and my grandchildren none.

Technically yes although I think big family gatherings are becoming more important as a result. My child has no siblings but several cousins (and counting) and his aunts, uncles and cousins are much more important relationships in his life than my extended family ever was to me. I pondered this over Christmas actually because my mum said she never would have left the house on Christmas day when her children were small, but I feel like I should so my son can see a couple of cousins and not be the only child all day, and so it still feels like a big family Christmas sat round the dinner table.

My children have 10 cousins - 6 on one side and 4 on the other. Although I have 15 cousins so still smaller!

It will definitely be a thing because of people having fewer children but also a widening "generational gap" whereby because people have children later, there are fewer generations alive at the same time. I knew two of my four great grandparents. My children didn't meet any of theirs and it's possible that their children won't even have four grandparents alive when they're born (I will be 74 if DD has her child at same age I had her)

My two kids have two cousins in total and that's very unlikely to change. The age range is massive too and they all live in different places. My OH and I both have more than 20 cousins so yes, about 10 times smaller. I'm sad they won't grow up with loads of cousins around the corner like I did.

In terms of my family idk. Mum was one of four, very abusive family, Dad was adopted and has never introduced me to his siblings, not actually sure how many he had. They had me, only child

Only one of mum's brothers has had kids so 50/50 there. I didn't meet any of my cousins as a child because we were estranged, I met them when I was almost 20! My uncle has had three kids so I guess I have 3 cousins. Those kids have had four or five of their own, so if I was going to have kids I guess they would have a bigger family.

I'm having 0 kids, locked in now DH has had the snip. To be honest I don't really feel like part of my 'family' because of all of the above, and I didn't feel any desire to carry on a line

Mine will be yes. My grandparents were all one of 7-12! My mother one of 5. My sister and I are a pair, though we have four step siblings, and my husband an only child.

My sister is one and done and I want two (but who knows the reality). Our children will have just one aunt and one cousin. I had 10 aunts/uncles and 20 cousins!

Yes it makes me sad how DS has no cousins his age but we have great family friends and their children have taken on that role I remember from my childhood

In my friendship circle - there are lots of women who just hadnt met the right partner yet and are now childless in their late 40s/50s. I wouldnt even say they were fussy, all successful, solvent, attractive women

Not here - DH and I are both one of 5 siblings, we share 5 children together and we have 15 nieces and nephews, with 2 siblings yet to have children - I think they will have 1 or 2 each

maybe the big family will end with this generation but for now it’s still big and growing!

however, my 5 cousins have no children at all and don’t plan to. I definitely think people are realising they don’t HAVE to have children if they don’t want to. And people are waiting until they’re older to start which may be a factor too

Yes, I was one of 7 cousins growing up, my mum was one of 4 so there were lots of aunts and uncles. Family gatherings were busy and bustling. I loved it. I had one brother who died, so my two children have no first cousins from my side. It makes me sad for them, though they do have one cousin from their dad’s side. They see their great aunts and grandparents a lot but it’s not quite the same as being surrounded by cousins I think.

I was thinking recently about the differences between my maternal and paternal grandparents (the latter not in the UK).

Maternal GPs had two children, of whom one (my mum) had two children, one of whom (me) had two children. My uncle was childfree, as is my sister. Total 6 descendants.

Paternal GPs had 3 children and 9 grandchildren. The grandchildren between them have 18 children and 1 grandchild. Total 31 descendants!

Average family size is shrinking, yes
https://www.ons.gov.uk/resource?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/conceptionandfertilityrates/bulletins/childbearingforwomenbornindifferentyearsenglandandwales/2015-11-10/13e81aa2.png

Yes, I’m one of two and have one child. Out of my sibling and 6 cousins, 3 have had children (2 each) 4 haven’t.
DH has 2 siblings, one has 2 kids, the other has none. DH and sibs are the exception in their family however, MIL is 1 of 4, each of the 4 had 3 kids (DHs cousins) and by and large each of the cousins has had 3 kids and now some of those have also had 3 kids! They all spend a lot of time together, family is very much prioritised over non family relationships

Compared to the demographics in 1900 ago, yes, far fewer in every generation.
But looking at the four most recent generations, there was at least one only child in each and the vast majority of the rest were two-child families. Even the family with four children had 10 descendants (not 16) in the next generation and only around 20 grandchildren (rather than 64) after that.

Ours has but it was my grandparents who started having less children. My grandparents all came from huge families (9+ siblings), but then each set of grandparents only had 2 children each. My mum had 50+ or so cousins. I only have 2 cousins as my uncle never had children, aunty only had 2. I'm one of 3 and have 3 children so we have actually pushed the numbers up as the generation before us didn't have many. My children do only have 2 cousins as my brother and his wife couldnt have children, my sister is 2 and done.

There are quite a few people in both mine and my husband's family who are childfree by choice though, they are all in their 50's now so there's no changing their mines. Also quite a bit of infertility too.

My great grandparents all had 4 children each. My material grandparents had 3 children, my paternal grandparents had 5 children. My parents had 3 children. Their siblings (my aunts and uncles) had between 0-3 children each. All of the cousins have between 1 and 3 children each.

So yes.

My husband's family, however, has grown. His grandparents only had a siblings each. His parents have a sibling each, but his parents had 4 children, and all his aunts and uncles had 3 children. All the cousins have between 2-3 children, one has none.

@sunshine244 , you might also be interested in this article about the statistics of shrinking families here in the UK, though it mostly views it from an economic, late-capitalist perspective, versus sociologically:
https://news.sky.com/story/britains-shrinking-families-an-economic-timebomb-13316294

I never had a large close family. I have one sister that she hasn’t found a partner and due to age she won’t be able to have kids. So I decided to create my own chaos and we had 3 kids. So any gathering is always very busy with them.

I suspect you are picking up on the demographic shift that is draining the UK. Imagine 10 years from now without any younger generations to support and replace the current ones.

yes, I have 9 cousins, my children have 3. I had 6 sets of aunt/unless, my children have 3

No. Ours is growing.

I couldn't have children. My only sibling, DS, had 4. Two of her 4 have 2 DC each, one has 1 DC, with plans to have 2 more.

My family is still enormous. I'm one of five and currently have eight nieces and nephews.

Definitely. I have loads of cousins but my children have only one. My children, now adults, have said that it is likely they will be child free. The cost of children, particularly childcare,seems to be a factor and also housing. Or rather the combination of those things.

Yes, my family is smaller and for a number of reasons.

• We are more spread out geographically so don't keep in touch (especially my generation)
• DH and I have 7 cousins between us and only 3 of them have children of their own, so the generations are getting smaller each time
• The people who organised the big family 'dos' of yesteryear are all dead now and the next generation just don't bother - I think my generation (40s/50s) are more likely to prioritise friendships over spending time with relatives with whom we have very little in common