High cost of living puts people off having children

People may choose to delay or not have children for all sorts of reasons. Now might not be the right time. They might have career or travel ambitions they want to achieve first. And some won’t want kids at all.

But for many, it’s down to money, rather than a lifestyle choice.

In fact, research from the Resolution Foundation shows that around three in ten women and one in four men cite finances as the main reason for not yet having kids.

Income levels are making a difference

Among 32-year-olds in England who don’t have children, those on low incomes are twice as likely as higher earners to say they may never start a family.

And this pattern is especially clear among young women who didn’t go to university.

In 2011, one in three (33%) non-graduate women aged 25 to 29 didn’t have children.

But by 2023, that had risen to more than half (54%) - an increase that the Resolution Foundation is “far steeper than for any other group”.

Housing costs shaping people’s plans

The cost of housing is another big issue that’s putting people off having kids - at least for now.

As the Resolution Foundation notes, there’s been a “sharp rise” in the number of young people either living with their parents or in high-cost, insecure rented accommodation.

This, it says, poses “significant barriers to starting a family”.

“Deciding whether to have children is a deeply personal choice, but it’s clear that financial constraints are at play too,” said senior economist Charlie McCurdy.

What can be done?

The government has acknowledged that many young couples are put off having children because of the high costs involved.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph last year, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “A generation of young people has been thinking twice about starting a family; worried not only about rising mortgage and rent costs, wary not only of the price of fuel and food, but also put off by a childcare system simultaneously lacking in places and ruinously expensive.”

But it is working to address these problems.

For example, it’s expanding its school-based nursery programme into more places - including less well-off areas - and rolling out free breakfast clubs in primary schools.

And significantly, it’s also scrapped the two-child benefit cap - a limit on the number of children you can claim benefits for that had been in place since 2017.

The government has also pledged to build 1.5m homes in the current parliament to improve the affordability and supply of housing and help more people get on the property ladder.