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.
Children ‘a sign of a healthy city’
Beck argues that “children are an indicator species”.
“They are a sign of a healthy city. If you see a dearth of children, that rings alarm bells that a city is not functioning as it should,” she added.
She describes a child-friendly city as one that is accessible, with active transport and safe affordable housing.
As the independent think tank Centre for London points out: “London is not becoming a city without families with children, but it is becoming a place where the realities that families with children face are increasingly unequal.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan said: “The mayor wants London to remain a city for everyone – where people can afford to put down roots, raise a family and build a future.
“That is why tackling London’s housing crisis and increasing the supply of genuinely affordable homes is one of his top priorities, alongside measures to support families with the cost of living, including funding free school meals for every child in a state primary school.”
They added that he would “continue working with the government to build more affordable homes, support public services and ensure London remains a great place for families and children”.
A government spokesperson said: “We’ve made paternity and unpaid parental leave day one rights through our Employment Rights Act, and have rolled out 30 hours of funded childcare a week to working families.”
The government added that it was also building more council homes to back “families at every stage”.
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