A generation of childless women: How a fifth of 45 year olds have not started a family
![One in five women aged 45 is now childless putting childlessness for women born in 1965 at a 45-year-high.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160323063011im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/12/17/article-2075038-0F04D89800000578-651_306x651.jpg)
One in five women aged 45 is now childless putting childlessness for women born in 1965 at a 45-year-high
The most successful generation of
working women in Britain is a generation without children, an official
analysis found yesterday.
It revealed that among women who turned 45 last year, a fifth have no children.
Those who seized new opportunities
for education and careers in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were more likely
to end up childless than their forebears, the Office for National
Statistics said.
Women born in 1965 were twice as
likely not to have children as those born just 20 years earlier.
The
only time in the past century when newborn girls were less likely to
grow up to have families was in 1920, a generation whose main
childbearing years fell during the Second World War.
Analysts at the ONS said the rise in
childlessness was a consequence of success in education and the opening
up of well-paid careers to millions who in the past would have been
housewives.
They added that the decline of marriage and the decision of
many women to delay starting a family meant that some left having babies
too late.
The record level of childlessness was recorded in fertility figures for 2010, published yesterday.
Although some older women may go on
to have babies, for statistical purposes they are considered to have
finished their childbearing years at 45.
![A graph showing the percentage of women remaining childless by their 30th birthday and completion of childbearing age](http://web.archive.org./web/20160323063011im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/12/16/article-2075038-0F32B1FF00000578-208_634x415.jpg)
The graph shows that the level of childlessness for women born in 1965 is at a 45-year high and comparable with that of women born in 1920 by completion of childbearing
![My work is my family](http://web.archive.org./web/20160323063011im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/12/17/article-2075038-0F33BA9500000578-470_306x893.jpg)
The childlessness level of 20 per
cent for women born in 1965 compares with 10 per cent for those born in
1945 and 11 per cent in 1938, which was the most common year of birth
among mothers of 1965 babies.
According to the ONS, increasing levels of childlessness are the main reason why for the past three decades the average family has included fewer than two children.
It said that the reasons for women
going childless included ‘increased participation in higher education,
delayed marriage and partnership formation, and the desire to establish a
career, get on the housing ladder and ensure financial stability before
starting a family’.
The report added: ‘A wide range of
explanations... have been put forward for the increasing childlessness.
'These include the decline in the proportion of women married and changes
in the perceived costs of child-rearing versus work and leisure
activities.’
It said that in recent years there has also been ‘greater social acceptability of the child-free lifestyle’.
Another explanation is the
‘postponement of decisions about whether to have children until it may
be biologically too late.’ The report said the most common number of
children for a modern woman is two, but the second most common number is
zero.
The average number of children dropped to 1.91 for each woman born in 1965 and has now risen slightly, the ONS added.
The report comes as fewer couples are
marrying each year than at any time since the 19th century, and divorce
has increased for the first time in five years, largely due to the
effects of the recession on relationships.
Commentators said yesterday that pressures on women to work and pay mortgages mean that many do not have the same choice over having families that their mothers did.
![Average number of live-born children, by age 30 and completed family size, by year of birth of woman](http://web.archive.org./web/20160323063011im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/12/16/article-2075038-0F32B2A700000578-844_634x424.jpg)
The graph shows women born in 1980 had given birth to 1.03 children on average up to their 30th birthday. The line above includes births after the 45th birthday achieved up to the end of 2010 by women born in 1965 and earlier years
![It just never happened](http://web.archive.org./web/20160323063011im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/12/17/article-2075038-0F33BABF00000578-69_306x555.jpg)
Author and researcher Jill Kirby said: ‘The gap between what women want and what they can achieve is widening.
‘Many women are finding themselves childless not through choice but because of financial pressures to delay motherhood, and then finding it is too late. The postponement of marriage is also contributing. What women want has, I suspect, not changed.’
Author Patricia Morgan added: ‘Until we recognise that women need more space in their lives to have a family without being required to work full-time we will continue to have low birth rates, especially among educated women.’
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