Childfree

Here’s What The Childfree Are Missing Out On

Number one: mountains of debt

Photo by DDDanny D on Unsplash

If you’re childfree by choice, you’ve probably had a lecture or two on what you’re missing out on. We’ve all heard that our lives lack meaning and we’ll never know the meaning of true love and yadda, yadda.

With that in mind (and in the spirit of fun, dear parents, I know the screaming bundle of flesh makes it all worth it for you), I’ve decided to investigate what else we might be missing out on:

A bill for up to £210,000 (or $310,000 in the USA)

A 2022 report by the Child Poverty Action Group in the UK found that the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 is £157,562 for a two-parent family and £208,735 for a single parent or guardian.

In the USA, it’s an average of $310,605 — or $17,000 a year — for a two-parent family, according to the Brookings Institution analysis of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department, as reported by the Washington Post.

To be fair, that’s a lot less than I thought it would be. Although it’s worth bearing in mind that none of these figures accounts for the cost of sending a child to university. That’s up to £9,250 a year in the UK and Cod-only-knows how much in the USA, though loans are…