Only 12% of Millennials believe they could afford to raise children

According to a Youth Trend Report published in 2016, 60 per cent of young adults regard traditional values such as marriage and having children as relevant and important values to this day.

To find out whether this report accurately represents the situation of millennials in the UK, an opinion poll was conducted on behalf of furniture company distinctivechesterfields.com to learn more about young people and their views on starting a family today.

Based on the survey results from 2,000 people, only 39% of young Brits would be willing to put their career on hold to start a family.  More than a quarter of respondents also admitted to placing their career prospects above raising a family.

17 per cent of participants claimed that they had no interest in having children, and that they would rather focus their time and finances on buying a home or saving for holidays.

In a response to the poll’s results, Managing Director of Distinctive Chesterfields Steve Laidlaw admitted that: “Our young adults today have different priorities.”

With the research revealing that only 12% on millennials in the UK believing they could afford raising a child, Laidlaw also commented:

“Given the cost of childcare and associated costs of having kids these days, it’s not surprising that young people are putting their careers first and saving their hard-earned cash for things like holidays or their first home.”

Despite the current opinion on having children held by young people in the UK, the poll also revealed that 61 per cent of respondents claimed they were interested in having children one day, as well as 90 per cent stating they were interested in marriage sometime in the future.

Statistics published by the Office of National Statistics in July 2016 have revealed that women aged 40 and above were having more children than women currently in their 20’s.

Tanya Korobka, a social trends expert, had this to say on the matter: “It’s not that Millennials don’t want to have kids, they just don’t think about it as early as the older generation did.

“It is partly because of current financial pressures, but partly because of the general shift in values: career comes before children.

“Young people today are delaying major milestones (marriage, kids) and this shift is primarily driven by young women.

“More opportunities in the workplace, especially for women, means less time to think about settling down.”

More than half of poll respondents admitted to having savings put away for their future, with the average young person in the UK managing to have at least £5,000 in reserve.

Young people in the North East tend to have the least savings, with an average of £3,640, whereas those from East Anglia have the most savings in the UK with an average of £5,920.