U.K. birthrate hits 20 year low

[SunshineHello]

“Since 2011, the number of babies born has been on an almost constant downward trend, falling each year from 2011 to 2020 before a small rise in 2021 as pandemic restrictions were eased. The latest figures show another “considerable” decline last year, from 624,828 births to 605,479.”

This take the TFR to the lowest rate on record for the U.K. - 1.5

I wonder how much the birth rate will drop before it levels out.

The cost of housing and childcare are a major factor among my peers.

I currently have one in nursery and if I had two it would be ~ £4,000 pcm. That’s a £75,000 salary. To make a decision to do that is… complex.

If you hadn't had children when you did, your life now would be totally different. Not sure of you're still of childbearing age but already have them or beyond that age now but my point is, you don't know how you'd feel in this alt universe where you were only just able to have kids in 2020. That isn't me telling you you would have had 6 kids and a pony , simply that you also don't have a time machine

Every.bloody.thing.that.is.posted.here.is.meaningless.

Why bother saying anything at all? If all you can do is pick, pick, pick at what people say and be too thick to read between the lines or understand that actually, there may be a reason why.

It doesn't matter to me that you do this, I just idly wonder why you and your cohort, do. Seems futile. Think what you like, I really don't care.

Well perhaps we should start charging anyone with a 5 and under child with abuse, outlaw pregnancy and set up a programme of forced sterilisation.

There have always been reasons to not have children because of the future. Unless you believe that it's not over until it's over and those children selfishly brought into the world by shit parents who clearly don't love them might just have the answers.

And IF she changes her mind, will you support that or tell her she's wrong and you can't stand by and support her selfishness?

We have 2. Childcare doesnt really pay you once you have 2 to work. Its def hard. We ok now as she 17 but can see the attraction of small families

There's far too many of us already. The real issue is we live too long. Ironic really that we locked down for 2 years to protect the elderly, yet we haven't got the means to protect them in terms of social care.

I'm very glad to hear it. The planet needs far fewer people.

Maybe you are right but it's a totally different world we live in.
I had my first dd in 1999. When I was pregnant we bought a 2 bed semi for 24k with 0% deposit (yes 0) we earned about 20k joint income. Getting a job was easy, getting a house was easy. Raising kids was easy.

We’ve never had a present and future like the current one. Climate change related disasters will only get much worse, and life will get more and more difficult, and at a much more accelerated rate than anticipated.

People can choose to have kids, not my business. But I 100% agree with Feverly’s post and IMO it is cruel to condemn them to a future of severe struggle just to survive, and very low quality of life.

I just read on twitter (or X) the ex vice president of Pfizer said the Covid vaccines were designed to make women infertile

1st time mothers are older.
The population is aging so birth count is going to go down anyway.

I don't think it's a bad thing at all if every child born is much more likely to be planned & wanted.

Lots are opting out because having children is becoming more of a choice. At one time you got married and had kids, that was it.

@Annaishere that's utter tripe

Well in which case they did a pretty rubbish job

The birth rates in 2022 were about 1.5% lower than pre covid, when birth rates were dropping anyway

If I designed a product that was 1.5% effective I would be sacked

I'm mid 20s

I can't get on the property ladder, there is a lack of social housing and private renting is insecure and I don't want to raise children, knowing I could get kicked out at any point.

We have wage stagnation and this country is a shit show

I’m supporting her choice. Should her choice change, however unlikely that may be, I’ll support her in that as well.

My apologies if that wasn’t clear from my initial post.

@SleepingStandingUp I am perplexed however, as to why you’ve decided I would call the desire to reproduce selfish?

I would own to perhaps considering her ill-advised if she decided to have children in the next few years, as she is very young, isn’t in a relationship, and is working long hours and spending the vast majority of her wages on housing and bills, like most of her peers.

I wonder if you have perhaps confused me with another poster?

I agree, @User135644, the real issue is that we live too long so the declining numbers of children being born will somehow have to support the older generations.

It will eventually even out, but I agree with PP’s that people who continue to have large families for religious reasons, for example, could be the decision-makers of the future. That scares the pants off me, tbh.

I think it's crazy that thirty percent of babies had mothers born outside of the UK last year.
In 2000 the figure was half that, and 1990 it was 10%.

I suppose it's a tricky stat to negotiate with because it clearly fits into racist discourses and anxieties about nationalism and purity. So it seems like playing with fire to dwell on it. But clearly that tells us that there are women who are producing children in an environment in which others consider it too hostile.

I wonder if the marked differences is one of a higher propensity to be religious, or higher levels of optimism and hopefulness of those confident enough to build a new life in a different country, or cultural differences that mitigate some barriers for women who are native born?

I suppose what we are looking at is a huge and increasing number of the population with dual nationality with much more scope to ship out of the UK hits the rocks down the line, for a start. That seems significant to me, politically and socially.

(That fits my own DC's status, albeit via their Dad - so that's not meant to be some othering dog whistle, just a statement of fact about a population shift with bite)

@Annaishere I think he said a couple of years ago that it's supposed to cause infertility in any children had by those who've had the jabs, so by the time we can measure those effects it'd be too late to do anything about it.

Absolute insanity, batshit garbage.

I have 2 - they’re 2 and 4. In nursery but the eldest is about to start school. Both currently in nursery 3 days, one day with grandparents. OH a “high earner” I’m midrange (£40k PT). I feel the pressure to save for their future so they have a chance of buying a house/car when they’re old enough without it being a direct gift from us (though it will be, just accumulated over time).

I find balancing the children and work, plus the cost of nursery suffocating.
I would love a third but can’t see how we’d do it without giving up the things that make
working easier - like the cleaner/meal boxes/ironing!

It’s the juggling for me too - if one is ill, the other gets it, then I get it and life feels tough for weeks! it takes ages to catch up at work and I feel like I’m chasing my tail.

We have just the one and will probably stop here for affordability reasons. Her nursery bill will be £1700.

I'm not sure the reduction is really down to ethical responses to childbirth.

I suspect a lot of it is down to the housing crisis and how expensive buying and renting is in the UK. Then childcare. Women need well paying jobs to contribute and can't necessarily afford gaps in employment. Or they wait to have kids until they're earning well, by which point they're in their late 30s with less time to have kids and some experiencing age related fertility issues.

I had my first at 30. Most mum's I know in my area are in their 30s and 40s. I know very few mums in their 20s.

Perhaps this will change when less people go down the university route due to crazy costs and are ready to have kids sooner.

Kids are hard work but they're worth it. I'm laying in bed listening to my three role play shops and I can't help but smile. They love each other and are a tight unit. I wouldn't have it any other way and I hope there aren't adults out there feeling pressured not to have kids due to environmental or family pressures not to.

Equally I have a close relationship with my parents who definitely benefit from my help as they age. If you don't have a lot of money in retirement, life without family isn't easy.