FEATURE8 March 2019

The other choice

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Nathalie Gil

Behavioural science Features Impact Trends UK Youth

A growing number of the UK’s population have made the active decision not to become parents – and, until now, have remained unrecognised and misunderstood. Research from BAMM highlights the audience in every brand’s blind spot. 

IStock-835765634 jjwithers

We all know the classic life stages: pre-family, family, post-family. Behaviours and attitudes can change significantly depending on where people are in their life journey. There is, however, a growing segment that does not fall into any of these descriptions. In fact, it may be a blindspot for research. These are the people who ignore the path to parenthood and make the active choice to go childfree. Say hello to the ‘otherhood’.

Childlessness in the western world is more common than ever before. In the UK, almost half of women who turned 30 in 2016 did not have any children, up from 18% in 1976, according to ONS data. US Census Bureau data shows that 20% of women aged 40 to 44 were childless (up from 10% in 1976 ). Moreover, those who voluntarily make this decision are a significantly growing segment: one in five 25- to 55-year-olds without children in the UK is voluntarily childfree – or, as we have ...