The average age at which a woman becomes a mother is 31 years old, according to a new ONS (Office for National Statistics) report.
The report also found that, for the first time since records began, half of women in England and Wales haven't had children by the time they reach 30.
"We continue to see a delay in childbearing, with women born in 1990 becoming the first cohort where half of the women remain childless by their 30th birthday," said ONS statistician Amanda Sharfman.
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"Levels of childlessness by age 30 have been steadily rising since a low of 18% for women born in 1941," Sharfman added. "Lower levels of fertility in those currently in their 20s indicate that this trend is likely to continue."
Though this report is undoubtedly interesting, it also feels highly problematic in terms of both scope and framing. Where is the equivalent data revealing the average age at which men become parents? At what rate has this been increasing over the decades?
It's also time, surely, to retire the loaded term "childless". It's a word with negative connotations implying that a person who doesn't become a parent is in some way lacking.
It's a word that fails to reflect the fact that some women choose not to have children because they don't want to become parents, while others choose not to have children because they simply can't afford to.
These are points being expressed very eloquently over on Twitter.
Also why is it not childless men?
— Seyi Akiwowo (@seyiakiwowo) January 28, 2022
Or...
Half of men aged 30 don't have children?
Leave women alone! https://t.co/nwGCZGudGD
I can only speak anecdotally here, but among the people I know (including myself) this may have more to do with the difficulty of finding decent partners to have children with? As well as the astronomical cost of raising kids in this country, of course. Lol? pic.twitter.com/oBkBbamAzN
— Rose Stokes (@RoseStokes) January 28, 2022
The report also revealed that on average, women who do become mothers are continuing to have fewer children.
"The average number of children born to a woman has been below two for women born since the late 1950s," said the ONS's Amanda Sharfman. "While two child families are still the most common, women who have recently completed their childbearing are more likely than their mothers’ generation to have only one child or none at all."
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