Barren Britain: 19% of women are childless at menopause

By Daniel Martin for the Daily Mail
Updated: 03:45 EST, 19 May 2011

Women in Britain are among the most likely in the world to end up without children, an international study has found. (Posed by model)

Women in Britain are among the most likely in the world to end up without children, an international study has found.

Some 19 per cent arrive at the menopause childless – a figure exceeded by only three countries in Europe.

Experts believe the Barren Britain phenomenon could have arisen because until recently women here were far more likely to pursue careers than those in the rest of Europe, meaning many put off having children until too late.

Some will blame the rise of feminism in the 1970s and 1980s, leaving a generation of women sacrificing family in the name of equality.

But the report shows that when British women do have children, they are likely to have more than those in other countries.

The country with the highest proportion of childless women is Italy.

Despite their reputation as a nation of Latin lovers who frown upon contraception, some 24 per cent end their reproductive years without children.

The extent of Barren Britain is revealed in a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which represents industrialised nations.

Researchers looked at women in 24 countries who were born in 1965 – meaning they went through their formative years during the 1970s heyday of feminism and entered their careers during the power-suited 1980s, when increasing numbers of women put career ambition before traditional family values.

All are now around 46, so most will have finished their reproductive careers and some will be entering the menopause.

The findings show that at this stage of life, rates of childlessness in the UK – 19 per cent – are beaten only by Italy’s 24 per cent, and 20 per cent in Germany and Finland. Far fewer women in France ended up childless – just 10 per cent of those born in 1965. 

In Portugal, 5 per cent had no children, compared with 12 per cent in Spain and 16 per cent in Australia and the United States.

A separate OECD report last year concluded that women in Britain leave it later than those in any other country to have their first child, giving birth for the first time at an average age of 30.

The latest statistics, in a report called Doing Better For Families, show that 23 per cent of British women have one child, 39 per cent have two and 30 per cent have three or more.

The proportion with three or more was exceeded only in the U.S., Sweden, Australia, Norway and France.

Olivier Thevenon, author of the report, said maternity leave entitlements have traditionally been more generous in countries such as France, meaning women there have found it easier to juggle families and careers.

‘The birth of one child leads more frequently to inactivity or part-time work in the UK than in many other OECD countries, including France,’ he added.