The Intent to Become a Parent Project
OnePoll ran a research project aimed at exploring Millennials’ and Gen Z’s intent to become a parent. The aim of the project was to gain a better understanding of under 35’s attitudes to parenthood, in line with the steady decline in birth rate from 2015 to 2020 and the rise in first birth age to 30.9 years of age.
The Research
We interviewed 1,000 UK Adults aged 18-34 about their intent to become a parent. The online survey included 28 questions that covered how they felt about having children, as well as the reasons why they may/may not choose to have them. It also covered topics such as societal pressure to have children and attitudes regarding the ethics of having children amid both an economic and climate crisis.
The Results
The results were collated into Excel data tables with cross breaks for age, gender, region, ethnicity and education level. The research found that just over half of Gen Z and Millennials (55%) plan to start a family at some point in the future, while one in four say that becoming a parent is not in their future plans. 20% say that they are unsure if they will.
The most common reason for this, at 49%, was wanting time to themselves, followed by financial pressures (47%) and worries about the state of the world (38%), while 35% cited concerns about the impact children would have on the environment.
The data was incorporated into a news story which later featured exclusively on The Times and The Times Breakfast show.
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