When I opened the paper on Thursday and saw that high housing costs, as well as the general expense of raising a child in today’s world, are stopping young people from procreating, my first reaction was: D uh . According to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, our national fertility rate has fallen to its lowest level since European settlement, with women now having an average of 1.5 children in their lifetime – well below the required replacement rate of 2.
1. Australia’s birth rate has declined again, to 1.5 babies per woman.
Credit: Getty Images As someone with an almost-three-year-old, I am very much in the parenting thick of it. Half of my friends are either pregnant with their first or second child, while the other half have just stopped (mostly after their second). No one I know is considering more than two kids.
And for many, it’s not a case of wanting a smaller family so much as a case of affordability. My partner and I have looked at our situation and done the maths, and though we once considered having another child, a combination of factors has made it impossible. There is simply no financial fat left over for more.
We are not in imminent danger of homelessness or forgoing healthy, nutritious meals, and we both work. So while we aren’t financially struggling, we’re far from being financially comfortable, and even further from being comfortable enough to have more children. Loading Even with subsidies, our childcare costs are $165 a day.
Ou.
