Think having a kid is ‘priceless’? Here’s what they really cost

June 14, 2026 — 5:06am

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As much as we might like to pretend that you can’t, I’m sorry to say that you absolutely can put a price tag on “priceless” life experiences.

Perhaps the most perfect example of this is when it comes to having children. Of course, you can’t put a numerical value on an experience like holding your baby in your arms for the first time, but tallying up the associated costs with getting to that point and predicting how much you’ll be out of pocket for the many years to come? That, I’m afraid, you absolutely can do.

And for a growing number of Australians, it seems the current price is proving to be much too steep.

In case you missed it (although I truly don’t know how anyone could at this point), Australia’s fertility rate has been in steady decline for decades and is now at an all-time low of 1.48 children born per woman.

If we want our population to stay at the same level it is right now without migration, this rate needs to be much higher – at 2.1. In real terms, that means that in 2024 we had 23,000 fewer babies than we did in 2018. When you think about it like that, it’s easy to see why people are becoming increasingly worried about this.

This isn’t just a problem here, either. Much of Europe, Asia and north and Central America are also seeing the rates of birth drop below where experts and governments say they should be if we want to ensure our quality of life remains the same or improves in the decades to come.

Having one child will set a couple back roughly $13,000 per year, that figure grows to $23,000 when a second child comes........

© Brisbane Times