As a species we are richer than we’ve ever been before. We live longer. We have more food to eat than is good for us. We have abundance in all things. And yet we are no happier than we were. In fact, many of us are downright unhappy.

Among our woes is an epidemic of loneliness. Some 8.4 million of us are now living alone in Britain, and more than 3.8 million report being chronically lonely. We lock up more people in our prisons than ever and we can see for ourselves the signs of friction in our society, one which is clearly not entirely at peace with itself. So somewhere we have gone wrong. And I think I know where.

It’s our families. They are simply too small. The average number of children born per woman in England and Wales has fallen to 1.41 – a figure that has been declining consistently since 2010 and is now the lowest since records began in 1938. And, say it quietly, but I’m not sure that small families are actually very good for us – either individually or as a society.

How so? Well, to start with, I think it’s fair to say that on average larger families produce more rounded individuals – ones more accustomed to the rough and tumble of life, to challenges and competition; people who by definition have experienced more of society, albeit the society of numerous siblings, cousins and uncles and aunts, than those from smaller, more isolated family units. 

We should recognise also........

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