It’s because no one wants to have kids, why would they?
It’s obscenely expensive, childcare provision is SO oversubscribed (because there’s fuck all of it) that you’re having to sign up to nursery places even before you’ve had a 12 weeks scan around here for them to go at 1 year old, that’s a full 18 months early.
Minumum maternity and paternity pay is utterly abysmal so you can’t even bond with your child once they’re born.
Schools are falling apart due to RAAC, teachers are quitting in droves, the economy fucking sucks and no one can buy a fucking house.
This is no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, and without some BIG changes in wealth redistribution we’re going to be entirely fucked as a country.
corbynista2029 on
Does anyone have a meaningful solution to the demographic crisis? Feels like the developed world and some of the developing world are just sleepwalking into a massive population crash. Migration helps delay the problem, but it’s not going to work forever when other countries eventually face their own population crisis.
mechanical-monkey on
I’m a dad. I can tell you it’s a nightmare for childcare. You can’t get it and with both me and my partner having to work full time to keep the house afloat. It’s desperately needed. It’s a fortune for literally anything child related now as well. Honestly even a little bit of help would go long way for most people. I am the only one of my friend group with kids. No one else wants them. Why would they. All of the struggle one way or another with work life balance as it is. Kids just add to that.
Just to be clear. I love my kids and would do anything for them. But it doesn’t stop it from being the single hardest and financially draining thing I’ve ever done.
LordLucian on
As someone who is a uk citizen born and bred I can reliably say that its because of a number of things ie: cost of food, cost of housing, feelings of general incompetence from almost every goverment department and the politics.
In short people feel abandoned and helpless.
Edit: changed I’m short to in short.
IsWasMaybeAMefi on
One of my daughters sees climate change and the state of the planet as a reason to not have kids.
I do not disagree.
My other daughter has two kids. I am scared about the world they will grow up into.
Comfortable-Class576 on
This won’t change until working families get free full-time childcare and houses are affordable again. It’s crazy that most young couples in London can’t even afford a second bedroom. Young people can’t find stability until they’re in their 30s or mid-30s, and by then, when they try to have kids, they face fertility issues that they wouldn’t have had at 28.
I know loads of people who’d love to have 2 or 3 kids but stick with one because they can’t afford more or struggle to conceive in their 40s, and that’s probably cutting the number of babies in half.
Cross_examination on
Don’t worry. There will be plenty of births soon in the refugee hotels; poor people tend to have more kids. (This is not an invitation for racist comments).
manuka_miyuki on
2 nights ago my dad reminded me that he expects me to eventually give him the grandchildren he ‘wants and deserves’.
i have bad genetics, can’t afford to live alone, can barely look after myself without feeling mentally exhausted, and live in a world where climate change is only getting worse and all of our foods are filled with micro plastics.
tell me what child deserves to be born into a family like that. i would be a horrible, pessimistic mess of a parent and i’m not afraid to say that. a lot of these older people just don’t give a shit and can only see it from their experience of raising kids.
Far_Leg6463 on
Looks like we are gonna need those immigrants after all…..
newnortherner21 on
There was a baby boom just after the second world war. About 78 years ago. Average life expectancy at birth is about that.
Could that be a factor?
Zanarkke on
What a lot of people don’t seem to grasp is that part of the reason the NHS is on its knees is because the population is aging so rapidly now. It’s the sheer number of elderly patients that are coming to hospitals and cannot be safely discharged.
The workforce is shrinking, whilst it supports this growing population of retired non productive members of society, who are holding onto their assets until death, death which is constantly being prolonged as they are being propped up by this workforce of tax payers.
The only reason Japan isn’t on its knees is because it doesn’t have a purely publically funded health service.
Reasoned_Watercress on
I can just about feed and house myself. A whole ‘nother person? Lol no.
thingsniceandgreen on
The Industrial Revolution oversaw the biggest population boom ever, and like every boom there’s a bust. This is it. Humanity has reached a peak. What goes up must come down.
I feel like if we start to force people to have babies just for the economy then let’s face it Capitalism is just a Ponzi scheme and we should, I don’t know, not expect a never ending cycle of profit and growth and maybe change our ways to a more circular economy instead.
UJ_Reddit on
I’m not sure if it’s fair to bring a kid into this shit storm
sbaldrick33 on
Turns out when you make childcare unaffordable, two incomes a necessity, and any hope of an actual future an unattainable fantasy, people don’t want to have kids. Who knew?
Gazz1e on
No one to pay into the state to look after the old people. No workers to care for the old people.
The only solution sadly is modern slavery. Get people from depraved countries working in the UK for a pittance of a salary. They’re be paying tax on this pittance and doing care work at the same time. Let’s call this multiculturalism.
Outside_Error_7355 on
People will blame this on cost, or the government subsidising it enough, but the reality is this is the trend across the entire developed world. As education and women’s rights increase, birth rate decreases. Governments the world over have tried all kinds of bribery to reverse this trend – look at Korea and the Nordics in particular – and it’s yet to really work anywhere. This is a long term trend that pre dates the economic problems of the last decade or so too.
Money isn’t the reason. People have kids in poverty and have done for millenia. The reality is this is just a proven trend in society and so far there is no evidence at all this is a problem government’s can spend themselves out of.
salamanderwolf on
I’m utterly baffled as to why anyone, would, have kids today. They have a terrible future ahead of them.
Jose_out on
The 30 free hours coming in is a very good start to helping with childcare but more investment is needed for more facilities.
One good thing I have noticed is in my industry at least over the last few years is the increase in paternity leave fully paid. Quite a few places are doing 6 months now. Would have been unheard of 10 years ago.
Left_Composer1816 on
Yes, I would love to bring a child into a world where the majority work their lives away to be thrown a bone from the billionaires we all make richer, where the same billionaires are shoving shit into the ocean and the atmosphere and blaming the commoner for not recycling enough, where climate change is going to wreak havoc in their lifetime (and probably mine as well), where our food is full of plastic and chemicals, where in many countries women’s rights either don’t exist or are being slowly chipped away at, where there is rarely any effective mental health support, where social media is rotting everyone’s brains, where everything is just a way for more billionaires to profit, where millions/billions of people still have no access to proper healthcare, where billions of people already exist! (/s)
BagOFrogs on
Can someone explain to me the logic in some of these comments that every generation has to grow bigger than the last to pay for the elderly? I mean yes i get that, but is this an infinite situation where we just keep growing as a population forever? Like we just keep churning out more and more kids until there’s standing room only? And then we’re all standing on top of each other?
ihateeverythingandu on
If the system won’t care for its people, why should people care for the system? There is no benefit to having children, it genuinely does not contribute to existence for people now. You can get love elsewhere, and peer pressure to have kids doesn’t carry the emotional weight it used to. This isn’t even a political issue, since quality has been sliding for a long time, merging between Tory and Labour governments.
The problem is we bend over for rich people and the system that maintains the comfort for them, while us mere plebs exist to feed them. It’s why I laugh at the morons who rant if someone swindles the benefit system. Yes, Grant claiming an extra £100 disability is the real problem, not fucking Elon or Google not paying near millions pushing near billions in taxes. Yeah, it’s the poor cunt that needs sorting out because he’s the easy target.
All that shit goes back to banks being “too big to fail”. The only reason they are is because we allowed them to become that. That logic applied to people would be like if Starmer went on a robbery and killing spree now and we all just agreed that he’s “too important to punish”.
Global society needs an enormous culture shift. An absolute radical change because we can’t continue this road and not hit a dead end.
oralehomesvatoloco on
Western culture has been sabotaged by materialism. It’s no longer designed to have kids
Regular-Average-348 on
We need to come up with a system that doesn’t rely on a pyramid scheme of eternal growth. What’s the point in life if we’re all crowded in and fighting for resources and polluting everything to hell anyway?
total_reddit_addict on
Everyone here blaming economic and financial reasons for many of us not wanting kids. I mean sure, but let’s be honest the main reason is they’re fucking exhausting and annoying.
Happy_llama on
Only one of my friends who have kids have had more than one
26 Comments
It’s because no one wants to have kids, why would they?
It’s obscenely expensive, childcare provision is SO oversubscribed (because there’s fuck all of it) that you’re having to sign up to nursery places even before you’ve had a 12 weeks scan around here for them to go at 1 year old, that’s a full 18 months early.
Minumum maternity and paternity pay is utterly abysmal so you can’t even bond with your child once they’re born.
Schools are falling apart due to RAAC, teachers are quitting in droves, the economy fucking sucks and no one can buy a fucking house.
This is no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, and without some BIG changes in wealth redistribution we’re going to be entirely fucked as a country.
Does anyone have a meaningful solution to the demographic crisis? Feels like the developed world and some of the developing world are just sleepwalking into a massive population crash. Migration helps delay the problem, but it’s not going to work forever when other countries eventually face their own population crisis.
I’m a dad. I can tell you it’s a nightmare for childcare. You can’t get it and with both me and my partner having to work full time to keep the house afloat. It’s desperately needed. It’s a fortune for literally anything child related now as well. Honestly even a little bit of help would go long way for most people. I am the only one of my friend group with kids. No one else wants them. Why would they. All of the struggle one way or another with work life balance as it is. Kids just add to that.
Just to be clear. I love my kids and would do anything for them. But it doesn’t stop it from being the single hardest and financially draining thing I’ve ever done.
As someone who is a uk citizen born and bred I can reliably say that its because of a number of things ie: cost of food, cost of housing, feelings of general incompetence from almost every goverment department and the politics.
In short people feel abandoned and helpless.
Edit: changed I’m short to in short.
One of my daughters sees climate change and the state of the planet as a reason to not have kids.
I do not disagree.
My other daughter has two kids. I am scared about the world they will grow up into.
This won’t change until working families get free full-time childcare and houses are affordable again. It’s crazy that most young couples in London can’t even afford a second bedroom. Young people can’t find stability until they’re in their 30s or mid-30s, and by then, when they try to have kids, they face fertility issues that they wouldn’t have had at 28.
I know loads of people who’d love to have 2 or 3 kids but stick with one because they can’t afford more or struggle to conceive in their 40s, and that’s probably cutting the number of babies in half.
Don’t worry. There will be plenty of births soon in the refugee hotels; poor people tend to have more kids. (This is not an invitation for racist comments).
2 nights ago my dad reminded me that he expects me to eventually give him the grandchildren he ‘wants and deserves’.
i have bad genetics, can’t afford to live alone, can barely look after myself without feeling mentally exhausted, and live in a world where climate change is only getting worse and all of our foods are filled with micro plastics.
tell me what child deserves to be born into a family like that. i would be a horrible, pessimistic mess of a parent and i’m not afraid to say that. a lot of these older people just don’t give a shit and can only see it from their experience of raising kids.
Looks like we are gonna need those immigrants after all…..
There was a baby boom just after the second world war. About 78 years ago. Average life expectancy at birth is about that.
Could that be a factor?
What a lot of people don’t seem to grasp is that part of the reason the NHS is on its knees is because the population is aging so rapidly now. It’s the sheer number of elderly patients that are coming to hospitals and cannot be safely discharged.
The workforce is shrinking, whilst it supports this growing population of retired non productive members of society, who are holding onto their assets until death, death which is constantly being prolonged as they are being propped up by this workforce of tax payers.
The only reason Japan isn’t on its knees is because it doesn’t have a purely publically funded health service.
I can just about feed and house myself. A whole ‘nother person? Lol no.
The Industrial Revolution oversaw the biggest population boom ever, and like every boom there’s a bust. This is it. Humanity has reached a peak. What goes up must come down.
I feel like if we start to force people to have babies just for the economy then let’s face it Capitalism is just a Ponzi scheme and we should, I don’t know, not expect a never ending cycle of profit and growth and maybe change our ways to a more circular economy instead.
I’m not sure if it’s fair to bring a kid into this shit storm
Turns out when you make childcare unaffordable, two incomes a necessity, and any hope of an actual future an unattainable fantasy, people don’t want to have kids. Who knew?
No one to pay into the state to look after the old people. No workers to care for the old people.
The only solution sadly is modern slavery. Get people from depraved countries working in the UK for a pittance of a salary. They’re be paying tax on this pittance and doing care work at the same time. Let’s call this multiculturalism.
People will blame this on cost, or the government subsidising it enough, but the reality is this is the trend across the entire developed world. As education and women’s rights increase, birth rate decreases. Governments the world over have tried all kinds of bribery to reverse this trend – look at Korea and the Nordics in particular – and it’s yet to really work anywhere. This is a long term trend that pre dates the economic problems of the last decade or so too.
Money isn’t the reason. People have kids in poverty and have done for millenia. The reality is this is just a proven trend in society and so far there is no evidence at all this is a problem government’s can spend themselves out of.
I’m utterly baffled as to why anyone, would, have kids today. They have a terrible future ahead of them.
The 30 free hours coming in is a very good start to helping with childcare but more investment is needed for more facilities.
One good thing I have noticed is in my industry at least over the last few years is the increase in paternity leave fully paid. Quite a few places are doing 6 months now. Would have been unheard of 10 years ago.
Yes, I would love to bring a child into a world where the majority work their lives away to be thrown a bone from the billionaires we all make richer, where the same billionaires are shoving shit into the ocean and the atmosphere and blaming the commoner for not recycling enough, where climate change is going to wreak havoc in their lifetime (and probably mine as well), where our food is full of plastic and chemicals, where in many countries women’s rights either don’t exist or are being slowly chipped away at, where there is rarely any effective mental health support, where social media is rotting everyone’s brains, where everything is just a way for more billionaires to profit, where millions/billions of people still have no access to proper healthcare, where billions of people already exist! (/s)
Can someone explain to me the logic in some of these comments that every generation has to grow bigger than the last to pay for the elderly? I mean yes i get that, but is this an infinite situation where we just keep growing as a population forever? Like we just keep churning out more and more kids until there’s standing room only? And then we’re all standing on top of each other?
If the system won’t care for its people, why should people care for the system? There is no benefit to having children, it genuinely does not contribute to existence for people now. You can get love elsewhere, and peer pressure to have kids doesn’t carry the emotional weight it used to. This isn’t even a political issue, since quality has been sliding for a long time, merging between Tory and Labour governments.
The problem is we bend over for rich people and the system that maintains the comfort for them, while us mere plebs exist to feed them. It’s why I laugh at the morons who rant if someone swindles the benefit system. Yes, Grant claiming an extra £100 disability is the real problem, not fucking Elon or Google not paying near millions pushing near billions in taxes. Yeah, it’s the poor cunt that needs sorting out because he’s the easy target.
All that shit goes back to banks being “too big to fail”. The only reason they are is because we allowed them to become that. That logic applied to people would be like if Starmer went on a robbery and killing spree now and we all just agreed that he’s “too important to punish”.
Global society needs an enormous culture shift. An absolute radical change because we can’t continue this road and not hit a dead end.
Western culture has been sabotaged by materialism. It’s no longer designed to have kids
We need to come up with a system that doesn’t rely on a pyramid scheme of eternal growth. What’s the point in life if we’re all crowded in and fighting for resources and polluting everything to hell anyway?
Everyone here blaming economic and financial reasons for many of us not wanting kids. I mean sure, but let’s be honest the main reason is they’re fucking exhausting and annoying.
Only one of my friends who have kids have had more than one