I was keen to find out what the younger generation think, so spoke to a group of students.
Jess Rolf, 23, says having children was “never something she worried about”, and trying to build a settled life was “very stressful with the cost of living and the job market”.
“I’m from Lincolnshire and people my age back home are buying houses with their partners and talking about starting families.
“I don’t think that’s on the cards for me.”
Charlotte Ward, 26, has said planning ahead is difficult.
“A lot of people our age are quite disenfranchised.
“You put all your energy into school, university and work, then wonder, ‘do I want to bring somebody else into that if I can’t even support myself right now?’
“When parents or grandparents ask ‘what happens when you have children?’, I can say, ‘I might not’.
“There’s a small element of emancipation from the expectation that you definitely will have children but if I’m progressing in my career and my male counterparts don’t have to take time out to have a child, that could put me at a disadvantage.”
Millicent Angel, 24, says it is hard to envisage a future when the world feels “so unstable” but she still definitely wants children.
She adds there’s “a million and one things” she would like to do first, including developing her career.
