The cost of raising a child to the age of 18 is nearly £300,000 - while Scotland's birth-rate continues to drop. So what can be done?

We need to talk babies. According to the National Records of Scotland, Scotland’s total fertility rate has dropped to 1.25 children per woman with the number of births in 2024 (45,763) marking the fewest since 1855.

There is a plethora of reasons why women choose not to have children but the rising cost of raising a child is undoubtedly a factor. Behind these figures lies a simple but painful truth: more and more people are making the difficult decision on when, or even if, they can start a family.

But should we be surprised?

Child Poverty Action Group calculate that the cost of raising a child to age 18 to have, what the public deem as a socially acceptable standard of living, is £260,000 for a couple and £290,000 for a lone parent.

Let’s break it down.

UK maternity pay is among the lowest in the OECD.

The average cost of a full-time nursery place for a child under two in Scotland is £240 a week. That’s more that £12,000 a year. While some parents get support to pay for this, most don’t until a child is three. Even then, it is only for 22 hours a week.

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Is it any wonder that, according to the campaign group Pregnant then Screwed, two-thirds of parents in Scotland are leaving the workforce or reducing their hours due to the cost and availability of childcare?

The cost of childcare comes on top of the cost of living affecting so many people.

Yet the generosity of UK social security ranks near the bottom of other developed countries. Furthermore, the two-child........

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