Leonie had hoped to start a family by her late twenties. She is 27, the age she once hoped she would have children.
She is now waiting until she is at least 30. After becoming the first in her family to go to university, completing two degrees and beginning work in recruitment, she has put her next step on hold.
Why?
“Money and Covid. Just feeling like I’m still too young.”
Leonie is one of two dozen young people who took part in focus groups in Birmingham and Wakefield, hosted by the opinion consultancy Public First for The Times. In Birmingham they were asked about children and whether they hoped to have their own in the future.
None said they did not. However, Nicole, a 22-year-old dancer, said she was also anxious about the costs of having children. “Apparently on average it costs, like, one hundred grand to have a kid — a year. Or something — I can’t remember what it was. But it was a lot of money.
“I’m just thinking, I don’t even have that for myself. And I’m selfish. I want to live my life as well. I want to eat out and buy nice things.”
Some were relaxed about the prospect of waiting longer. Annabel, 27, who works in the NHS, said women were having children later.
“Years ago teenage pregnancy was a big issue,” she added. “It isn’t so much of an issue now — I see it in my work. People are much more likely to have children into their forties, mid-forties, even their late forties.
“We’ve seen a lot more people who want a career, want a life, want to make their own path before they have their children.”
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the average age of first-time mothers has been rising and is at an all-time high.
The number of children born in England and Wales is also at a record level — the lowest since 1977.
The factors that have delayed some millennial mothers from having children could do the same for some in Generation Z.
Research from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies last year found that only a quarter of millennials who wanted children were trying for them. Financial pressures, career considerations, not yet feeling ready and the absence of a suitable partner were the main reasons cited.
More from the Times Generation Z survey
In the Wakefield focus group, Chloe, a 27-year-old carer, talked about her two children and raised a significant difficulty that fellow parents in her generation may have faced.
“I have a four-year-old and she was born in [the] Covid [pandemic] and I think mentally that really messed with her socialising with people,” she said.
“So up until a year ago she would not socialise with people who she didn’t know. She was very reserved.”
In a survey by YouGov for The Times, members of Generation Z were asked if it was better for a couple to be married before having children — 34 per cent agreed and 56 per cent said it did not matter whether a couple having children were married or not.
The same poll showed few in Generation Z considered marriage an outdated institution. Just 21 per cent agreed that it was irrelevant, while 61 per cent disagreed.
The number of people getting married has collapsed since 1992. In the 30 years to 2022, the overall number of marriages decreased by 20.8 per cent, from 311,564. That’s despite a rise in marriages since the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions — increasing from 12.3 per cent from 2019 to 2022.
However, the median age of those marrying is also rising. Historically more marriages took place between men and women in their twenties, whereas the highest number of marriages today are of people in their thirties.
