Want to boost the UK’s birthrate? Fix the housing crisis, research suggests

Policymakers should address financial barriers that hinder young people from starting families, says thinktank Politicians hoping to persuade young people in the UK to have more children should prioritise tackling housing affordability, according to research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. There has been growing concern in recent years about Britain’s declining birthrate, given the long-term fiscal pressures of supporting an ageing population. Sharp falls in the number of children have also led in some cases to the closure of schools as rolls have shrunk, including in London, where some secondaries are next in line to be hit after primaries have shut. In a new report, titled ‘Bye Bye Baby’, the thinktank explains how rapidly change has happened. The proportion of women who are not yet mothers by age 30 has risen from 48% for those born in the late 1980s, for example, to 58% for those born in the early 1990s. The analysis finds the shift has been most pronounced among non-graduate women, aged 25-29. One in three had no children in 2011, which had risen to more than half (54%) by 2023. “This has happened alongside falling partnership rates and a major shift away from