Where are all the only children?

[BrownWoodenChair]

Where are all the only children ? Literally all my sons friends who are 8 have a sibling and most kids in school have at least 1 sibling! Middle class area in the north. I thought families were smaller now

I think something like 50% of families are now one child families.

They’re very common where I live in London - lots of older parents and very high cost of living.

In my house 🙋🏻‍♀️ another 3 in his class only children as well.

Only 6 out of 30 in my daughter’s class are only children. It’s not that common here.

DD (not an only) has several good friends who are onlies.

A lot of them are here. But there's also a few with lots of children.
There are some families who have split up so some have step siblings, but if you mean ones who live full time with a brother or sister, it's probably just less than half in both my kids' classes, at a guess? Obviously I don't know all the families, just going off what they say.

I have an only, she's 25 now.

Half of my sons class are only children, including him. It seems the other class in his year is also very similar in its split.

Depends on area I guess, my son said in school most of the children do not have any siblings but we are in London

Our DD is 25 singleton, same as her charming partner

DS (an only child) had a fair few in his primary class -- maybe five or six others out of 25? I mean, I can't say it's anything I consciously register.

Off the top of my head i can think of 5 in my dd class of 28

Seems to be very area dependant. We're Scotland, I have 2 dd's, of all their friends/class that I know of there's 1 only child. I do notice quite a few with large age gaps though, 5/6 years between siblings and mostly 2 children per family, very few 3 or more that i know of

My eldest is 12 years older than my second, he was the only, only when he was in primary school (obviously he isn’t now) of all the families I know (including in my family) there are only 3 only children

I have an only child, so does one of my brothers. 3 of my close friends also have just one child. I know 16 families who have 4 or more children though!

I can think of a few of my dc’s friends who are only children. That said, we live in a middle class rural farming community, so traditionally most people have multiple children. I know one family with 4 (mum is also only 28 😳) and another with 5. But I am an only child myself (it was great btw).

I’m in the 45-55 age bracket and most of my friends have had only one child.

I know loads of people who only have one (including me). Neither of my siblings have kids at all and lots of my cousins don’t either.

Not in the age group you are referring to,but my DD (now 43) is an only child,as is her DD. As an aside,I was always quite surprised that my late DM lived in between 2 families that had only one child,also that her best friend had just the one. This was back in the mid 80s/early 90s when 'onlys' were much rarer.

Gosh I’m finding the exact opposite! I’m not a parent but virtually all the parents I know have only one child.

I'm an only child, as is DD. Funnily enough, we're going away with four couples next week. They all have one child each! We're aged 59-64 - not sure if that makes any difference.

Mine is an only. In her class (SE England, village) there are 5 others. So that's about 1/6 of them. There are a couple with step siblings but no full siblings. At work (London) I think only one of my colleagues has more than one. We work in HE in London, no one can afford more than one!

Ours is the only singleton in our estate, aside from a newborn a few doors down

all the house are 4 and 5 bed so I suppose it would be more conventional for larger families to be here

DD (22) is an only. There were 3 others in her primary school class of 28.

DD19 is an only but had only 2 others in her primary school year and didn't know any at secondary school. I think they're still unusual.

I was also under the impression there were an historically high number of them. I guess it must vary geographically but I think there are loads in general.