London risks becoming a ‘childless city’ as families flee record costs
With the highest housing and childcare costs in the UK, raising a family in London is simply out of reach for many
London’s child population is collapsing faster than anywhere in Britain as unaffordable housing and childcare costs drive young families away, a report by the London Assembly found.
In the decade through 2023 the number of residents under ten years of age fell by 99,100 as families moved out and fertility rates crashed - even while the capital’s overall population increased by 506,000.
Falling pupil numbers have prompted 100 of London’s 2,500 schools to close since 2018; mostly in inner London. If trends persist, the capital could become “a childless city”, the report warned.
“The number of children living in the capital has fallen faster than anywhere else in the UK since the early 2010s,” said London Assembly’s Economy, Culture and Skills Committee Chair Hina Bokhari. “With the highest housing and childcare costs in the country, raising a family in London is simply out of reach for many.”
The study was commissioned to help the committee identify the causes and consequences for the city’s schools and public services. It said that empty school properties should be repurposed rather than sold, in case the pupil population bounces back in decades to come.
Several factors explain the drop in the number of children in London, the report said. Birth rates peaked in 2012 but have since fallen 20 per cent and are now 10 per cent below the national average in inner London, despite an increase in women of childbearing age over the same period.
