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Add to this the persistent pressure and expectation to spend huge amounts of time and money enriching children’s minds, bodies and spirits to ensure they are equipped with every advantage needed to achieve a secure, middle-class life. One friend recently once told me that to be a well-rounded individual, a child needs at least two out-of-school activities: a team sport for fitness and socialisation, and something artistic to stoke their creativity. While that sounds great in theory, the reality of what that looks like for a parent stretched by the arrival of each new child – both in time and cost – is enough to seriously deter anyone.
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A recent survey by Canstar Blue found on average, Australian parents are spending $1073 a month on child-related costs, or $12,876 per year. When broken down into cost per number of children, it found parents are paying $1005 a month for one child; $1214 for two children; $1303 for three; and $1414 for four children. When compared with 2018 data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, which put the monthly cost of raising two children at $736, this shows the price of raising children has close to doubled within just six years.
According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, two-child families are still the norm, but one-child families are very much on the rise. In 1981, only 8 per cent of women aged 40 to 44 years had one child. By 2021, that number doubled to 16 per cent.
As demographer Liz Allen said following the ABS data release: “Housing affordability, economic insecurity, gender inequality and climate boiling – that’s a recipe for the most effective contraceptive ever.”
Among my friends, a few who wanted two children are slowly skewing towards the “one-and-done” as they encounter the financial and emotional costs of child-rearing in this increasingly tumultuous world.
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For our little family, we’ve come to accept that another mouth to feed, love and raise would seriously impact our quality of life. Holidays would have to go, as would gym memberships, the occasional dinner out, and our child’s participation in extracurricular activities.
While the revelation that our nation’s birth rate is plummeting is certainly concerning and comes with many risks attached, one thing it isn’t is surprising.
Caroline Zielinski is a freelance writer based in Melbourne.