Impact

Media impact

• Dr. Bernice Kuang was quoted in the article ‘More and more couples are choosing to live without children, but not because they don’t want them’, Slovenec, 12 May 2022.
• Professor Ann Berrington and Dr. Joanne Ellison wrote an article looking at the ‘Effect of lockdowns on birth rates in the UK‘, The Conversation, 21 April 2022. Dr. Sarah Christison, Dr. Bernice Kuang and Professor Hill Kulu also contributed to this article.
• Dr. Bernice Kuang was quoted in ‘Baby Bust: Can policymakers boost dwindling world fertility rates?‘, The Financial Times, 20 April 2022.
• Our research was referenced in the article ‘Children of men: Are birth rates declining due to anti-natalism or economics?’, MerionWest, 3 March 2022.
• Dr. Sarah Christison was quoted in the article ‘Insight: How worried should we be about Scotland’s falling birth rates and ageing population?‘, The Scotsman, 13 February 2022.
• Dr. Bernice Kuang was quoted in an article  ‘Half of women in England and Wales do not have children by age 30‘, The Financial Times, 27 January 2022.
• Dr. Bernice Kuang was quoted in the article ”Insensitive’: pet owners react to pope’s remarks on animals and children‘, The Guardian, 6 January 2022.
• Our work looking at ‘Recent trends in UK fertility and potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic‘ was featured in an article by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) about ‘The impact of COVID-19 in pregnancy‘.
• Research on declining birth rates was referenced in the article ‘Birth rate in England and Wales dropped by 4% last year as Covid hit’, The Independent, 14 October 2021.
• Dr. Bernice Kuang was quoted in the article ‘Women aren’t “forgetting” to have children. They can’t afford to’, Refinery29, 14 October 2021.
• Previous work, led by Professor Ann Berrington, investigating whether and how the link between homeownership and entering parenthood has changed in Britain in recent decades has received a variety of media coverage:
  • ‘Buying a house no longer comes before having children, researchers find‘, The Telegraph
  • ‘New parents as likely to be in private rented housing as own homes‘, The Independent
  • ‘Young less likely to own their home before starting a family‘, The Times
• Dr. Bernice Kuang spoke to the news outlet Refinery29 about falling fertility and ‘The rise of the one-child family’.
• Professor Ann Berrington was quoted in an article by The Telegraph, ‘England’s Euros success risks baby bust’.
• Professor Hill Kulu commented on the lowest number of births recorded in Scotland in 2020 for an article in The Times, ‘Scotland marks lowest level of births in recorded history‘.
• Our working paper looking at recent trends in UK fertility and potential impacts of COVID-19 received local, national and international media coverage including:
  • ‘Britain’s falling birthrate will damage our society – and it’s not just Covid to blame‘, The Guardian.
  • ‘Covid ‘baby bust’ fears as fertility rate falls to record low’, The Telegraph.
  • ‘Generation childless: Has Covid caused a baby bust?‘, The Telegraph.
  • ‘Britain must reverse the baby bust to avoid an Italian decline’, The Telegraph
    
• Professor Jane Falkingham appeared on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme discussing population implications of women choosing a child-free life (listen from 20:42).
• Dr. Bernice Kuang was quoted in an article by The Refinery, ‘The women who decided they don’t want children during the pandemic’.
• Professor Ann Berrington commented on the falling birth rate in the UK as a result of the pandemic for an article in The Times, ‘Headache of having the kids at home puts brakes on birth rate‘.

Stakeholder impact

• Professor Jane Falkingham, Professor Ann Berrington and Professor Hill Kulu discussed their research with UK government Permanent Secretaries and Sir Ian Diamond, National Statistician, 29 October 2021.
• Professor Hill Kulu and Professor Ann Berrington contributed to the National Population Projections Expert Advisory Group meeting on 24 May 2021.
• Dr. Joanne Ellison gave a presentation at the monthly ONS DMEG (Demographic Methods Expert Group) meeting on 12 April 2021 on ‘Combining data sources to develop a Bayesian projection model for England and Wales fertility’.