Greece Outside In: Family size: why are we having fewer children?

Monday, March 25, 2013

Family size: why are we having fewer children?

Families are getting smaller: is it the effect of the recession?
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There are 7.7m families with children in the UK - but what size are they? Are you more likely to be an only child now?

The number of families with three or more children is the subject of an Office for National Statistics release today and it gives us a fascinating glimpse into how the UK has changed - and how we compare.

In 1996 - the earliest year that the data is available for - there were 7.4m families, but they tended to be bigger. The percentage of families with only one child has gone up - to 47%. Those with three or more kids is now 14%, down from 17%

In fact, the UK still has a higher percentage of households with three or more children than three quarters of the EU - including Spain, Germany, Poland and Greece. Is there a link between economic performance and family size? It's an interesting question: the smallest families are in countries which are undergoing crisis at the moment: Greece, Spain, Portugal, for instance. Having said that, Cyprus is above the UK, as is Ireland - does religion play a part there?

The data also shows that it's the poorest places which have the highest percentage of families with three or more children: the figure in Tower Hamlets is 28%, for instance and in Birmingham it is 24%.

The full data is below: what can you do with it?