We are heading for a grandparent and grandchild shortage. When families averaged four children, 100 grandparents could expect to have 400 grandchildren. At the current total fertility rate of 1.5, 100 grandparents can expect only 56 grandchildren. The CSO predicts that the total fertility rate will drop to 1.3 by 2037, which means that every 100 grandparents will have just 42 grandchildren. The replacement rate is considered to be 2.1.

While car window stickers may proclaim someone a proud mum of a fur baby, I suspect that being a proud grandma of a fur baby will not substitute for a lack of grandchildren.

The Iona Institute (of which I am a patron) recently published a paper based on the CSO statistics, On the Wrong Course, discussing the decline in both marriage and fertility rates in Ireland. Our population continues to grow due to something called population momentum, which disguises the extent to which people are marrying less and having fewer children.

Women born during periods of higher fertility continue to have children for many years, although at a much lower individual fertility rate, while older people are living longer.

Nonetheless, we reached “peak baby” in 2010, when the number of births was highest, and “peak child” in 2024, where more children are transitioning into adulthood than are being........

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