The number of households in the UK with four or more children is at a 45-year high. Why is it happening now? And what can six large families reveal approximately the demands and rewards of life with a bumper broodLarge families are having a revival. In the UK,a mighty 9.5% of babies have three or more older siblings according to research from Eurostat. Across the EU only Finland (10.1%) has a greater predilection (preference or preferred way of doing something) for reproduction. The UK figure, from data collected in 2013, and is at its highest since 1970. So why is this happening now?We are a country of quite large numbers of children,” muses Liz Fraser, a parenting author and broadcaster. “One thing I noticed when my children were younger, and whether we went to Italy or Spain on holiday,locals were absolutely shocked that we had three.” Only three?, UK residents might now judge. In contrast, or just 2.6% of births in Spain and 3.1% of births in Italy is of a fourth - or fifth or sixth etc - child. Fraser thinks “one of the things that can happen in a recession is that people focus more on family”. perhaps she means there’s a sort of hunkering down,in which a bigger family is a group hug against austerity.
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Source: theguardian.com