But the population is the highest it’s ever been. Over 5.5 million .
Understandable. The world’s a fucked up place and kids – between taking time off work to have them, feeding and clothing them, having a big enough home, etc – are expensive.
Its ok 198*10^19 foreigners are going to fix this.
Not surprised. We’re stretched too thin. Everything is just too expensive. You have to wait months on waiting lists for your kid to do anything eg sports lessons, scouts, brownies…
No wonder, nursery costs more than our mortgage
Important context:
*In the 1960s, most births were to women in their 20s*
*But since 2010 most babies have been born to mothers in the 30 to 34 age group*
*Last year, more than a third (35.7%) of births were to women in this bracket*
*Meanwhile, more than half of babies (51.7%) were born to unmarried parents*
*Fertility rates – which represent the average number of children that a group of women would expect to have, per woman – were at their lowest in the major cities*
*The City of Edinburgh had the lowest total fertility rate in the country (0.99), followed by Glasgow City (1.05) and Aberdeen City (1.06)*
*Midlothian (1.66), East Renfrewshire (1.56) and the Outer Hebrides (1.51) had the highest fertility rates*
My partner and I just bought our first home, we collectively earn approx. £72k, and we did the math recently and realised that having a baby would literally bankrupt us.
One of us would certainly have to quit their job to care for a baby (me), but then he wouldn’t be capable of financially supporting the three of us on top of paying the mortgage. We would lose everything that we worked so hard for, so even though we’re precisely the exact type of people the government should be wanting to reproduce (educated, long-term relationship, stable environment, homeowners etc.) opting out of the process entirely was a financial no-brainer.
We adopted a cat instead.
>*^(The country’s total fertility rate also decreased from 1.27 to 1.25)*
England and Wales are only a little higher, at 1.54
The US is 1.62, France is 1.64, Germany is 1.46, Spain is 1.21
Sweden is 1.44, Norway is 1.42 and Denmark is 1.52
I’m sure Scotland has specific problems, but declining birth rates are widespread across mature societies
Scandalous
I can afford to own a small family sized home, or afford to have a kid, I can’t afford both. Kinda perverse, no?
Literally can’t afford to feed myself half the time never mind have the audacity to bring a child into this mess.
No shit, you’re telling me that a population that’s having trouble covering their bills already doesn’t want to add a major new expense into their lives?
Best get Scotland’s best minds on that immediately to work out why that’s happening.
Highland Council projects that in 15 years some secondary school rolls will be down 35% and not just in rural areas. Most down at least 15-20%. That kind of reduction in school leavers will really upset the job market in 20 years time.
better together they said… brexit benefits they said…
Honestly I would have had 3 kids but I can’t afford it -despite my husband and I both working full time and living frugally. I feel punished for working long hours, buying my own home, not claiming benefits. I recently got a bonus from work, almost 70% went back to the taxman. There is a family near me, who have 8 kids don’t work and have the same house as me, but they don’t pay anything for it. I made wrong life choices.
I always wanted at least one kid, but once me and wife settled down and started working full time, it really put us off. The thought of adding that extra layer of stress just did not appeal, and it also never happened naturally for us. My brother never had kids either, neither did my wife’s brother and many of our friends.
My cousin on the other hand, who was a heroin addict (recovered thankfully) and hasn’t been employed her entire adult life has managed to give birth to 6 kids.
I’d have loved to have had kids. But from a financial standpoint it’s just not feasible.
That and I watched parents hate their kids through the plague and I guess it made me realise I might not be emotionally cut out for it 😂 maybe if we were more “it takes a village” these days it could work.
17 comments
But the population is the highest it’s ever been. Over 5.5 million .
Understandable. The world’s a fucked up place and kids – between taking time off work to have them, feeding and clothing them, having a big enough home, etc – are expensive.
Its ok 198*10^19 foreigners are going to fix this.
Not surprised. We’re stretched too thin. Everything is just too expensive. You have to wait months on waiting lists for your kid to do anything eg sports lessons, scouts, brownies…
No wonder, nursery costs more than our mortgage
Important context:
*In the 1960s, most births were to women in their 20s*
*But since 2010 most babies have been born to mothers in the 30 to 34 age group*
*Last year, more than a third (35.7%) of births were to women in this bracket*
*Meanwhile, more than half of babies (51.7%) were born to unmarried parents*
*Fertility rates – which represent the average number of children that a group of women would expect to have, per woman – were at their lowest in the major cities*
*The City of Edinburgh had the lowest total fertility rate in the country (0.99), followed by Glasgow City (1.05) and Aberdeen City (1.06)*
*Midlothian (1.66), East Renfrewshire (1.56) and the Outer Hebrides (1.51) had the highest fertility rates*
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c209en3zwyko](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c209en3zwyko)
My partner and I just bought our first home, we collectively earn approx. £72k, and we did the math recently and realised that having a baby would literally bankrupt us.
One of us would certainly have to quit their job to care for a baby (me), but then he wouldn’t be capable of financially supporting the three of us on top of paying the mortgage. We would lose everything that we worked so hard for, so even though we’re precisely the exact type of people the government should be wanting to reproduce (educated, long-term relationship, stable environment, homeowners etc.) opting out of the process entirely was a financial no-brainer.
We adopted a cat instead.
>*^(The country’s total fertility rate also decreased from 1.27 to 1.25)*
England and Wales are only a little higher, at 1.54
The US is 1.62, France is 1.64, Germany is 1.46, Spain is 1.21
Sweden is 1.44, Norway is 1.42 and Denmark is 1.52
I’m sure Scotland has specific problems, but declining birth rates are widespread across mature societies
Scandalous
I can afford to own a small family sized home, or afford to have a kid, I can’t afford both. Kinda perverse, no?
Literally can’t afford to feed myself half the time never mind have the audacity to bring a child into this mess.
No shit, you’re telling me that a population that’s having trouble covering their bills already doesn’t want to add a major new expense into their lives?
Best get Scotland’s best minds on that immediately to work out why that’s happening.
Highland Council projects that in 15 years some secondary school rolls will be down 35% and not just in rural areas. Most down at least 15-20%. That kind of reduction in school leavers will really upset the job market in 20 years time.
better together they said… brexit benefits they said…
Honestly I would have had 3 kids but I can’t afford it -despite my husband and I both working full time and living frugally. I feel punished for working long hours, buying my own home, not claiming benefits. I recently got a bonus from work, almost 70% went back to the taxman. There is a family near me, who have 8 kids don’t work and have the same house as me, but they don’t pay anything for it. I made wrong life choices.
I always wanted at least one kid, but once me and wife settled down and started working full time, it really put us off. The thought of adding that extra layer of stress just did not appeal, and it also never happened naturally for us. My brother never had kids either, neither did my wife’s brother and many of our friends.
My cousin on the other hand, who was a heroin addict (recovered thankfully) and hasn’t been employed her entire adult life has managed to give birth to 6 kids.
I’d have loved to have had kids. But from a financial standpoint it’s just not feasible.
That and I watched parents hate their kids through the plague and I guess it made me realise I might not be emotionally cut out for it 😂 maybe if we were more “it takes a village” these days it could work.
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