The Daily Mail article (linked below) highlights a report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank called "Baby Bust." It argues that Britain's declining birth rates — partly leading to "missing babies" — are significantly due to "immature men" who delay adulthood responsibilities. Key points from the report and article include:
UK's total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.41 children per woman in 2024 (per Office for National Statistics data), well below the 2.1 replacement level needed for population stability without high migration.
This contributes to projections of up to 30% childlessness among women, with around three million women aged 16-45 potentially not having children (vs. 2.4 million in their grandparents' generation), and specifically 600,000 young women missing out on motherhood partly because men aren't ready for parenthood until later.
In past generations, men often entered the workforce early (mid-teens), gained responsibility, mentorship, and financial independence, becoming "marriageable" by their mid-20s. Now, adolescence extends into the early 20s, with young men leaving home at an average age of 25 (three years later than women), delayed by factors like student debt, prolonged education, and cultural expectations against early responsibilities.
The report notes that 9 out of 10 young women still hope to have children, but later marriages (average age ~30 for both genders), high childcare/housing costs, career priorities, and misconceptions about female fertility (e.g., two-thirds of women believing medical advances allow babies "at any age") compound the issue.
It calls for policy shifts like encouraging earlier adulthood for men (e.g., apprenticeships, lower school-leaving age), prioritising marriage/family formation, and valuing motherhood more culturally.
This framing does capture one real aspect of the fertility decline: many demographic studies confirm that delayed partnership and family formation play a big role, and men's later readiness (tied to economic independence, housing affordability, and extended "emerging adulthood") contributes to mismatches in timing. Women often face a biological clock where peak fertility is in the 20s/early 30s, so if suitable partners aren't ready or available earlier, it can lead to "unplanned childlessness" and regret for some.
However,this is only one side of the coin. Women's liberation (second-wave feminism and beyond) has been a major — arguably even more transformative — driver of these trends across developed countries, including the UK. Expanded education, career opportunities, financial independence, access to contraception, and shifting gender roles have empowered women to prioritise personal goals, delay marriage/childbearing, or choose smaller families (or none at all). Thisdirectly correlates with lower fertility.
For context on the broader picture:
Declining UK birth rates stem from multiple intertwined factors: high costs of living/childcare/housing, economic uncertainty, longer education/careers (especially for women), changing preferences (e.g., more people opting out of parenthood entirely), and yes, partner mismatches including men's delays.
Feminist perspectives often frame lower birth rates as a natural outcome of women's greater choices and rejection of traditional pressures to prioritise family over self-fulfilment or careers. In many analyses, this shift has been positive for gender equality, even if it contributes to population challenges.
Some critics argue radical strains of feminism have fostered an "anti-family ethos," but mainstream explanations emphasise structural issues (e.g., lack of supportive policies for working parents) over blaming ideology.
In short, the CSJ/Daily Mail piece spotlights men's delayed maturity as a key culprit (with some validity in timing mismatches), but it downplays or omits how women's increased agency and priorities — enabled by decades of liberation movements — are the flip side, fundamentally reshaping when (or if) families form. Both genders' choices are influenced by modern economics and culture, and blaming one side oversimplifies a complex, multifaceted crisis. Reversing it would likely require addressing affordability, work flexibility, and cultural support for families on all fronts, rather than finger-pointing.