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Publication - Research and analysis

Attitudes to family formation in Scotland

Published
24 November 2022
Directorate
External Affairs Directorate
Topic
Children and families
ISBN
9781805251477

This report summarises the findings of two research studies commissioned externally by the Ministerial Population Taskforce on attitudes to family formation and ideal family size in Scotland. It includes the full report of the qualitative research exploring barriers and enablers of ideal family size

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Annex 5 - Pre Discussion Survey Data

Table 5.1: Ideal and expected family size by children/no children – averages shown
Current number of children Ideal number of children Expected number of children Difference Base size
Total sample 1.1 2.6 2.2 -0.4 53
All parents 2.0 3.1 2.9 -0.3 30
All not parents 0.0 1.9 1.2 -0.7 23
Table 5.2: Ideal and expected family size by SEG – averages shown
Current number of children Ideal number of children Expected number of children Difference Base size
ABC1s (all) 1.0 2.1 1.7 -0.4 22
C2DEs (all) 1.3 2.9 2.5 -0.5 31
ABC1s (parents) 1.9 2.4 2.4 0.0 11
C2DEs (parents) 2.1 3.6 3.2 -0.4 19
ABC1s (not parents) 0.0 1.9 1.1 -0.8 11
C2DEs (not parents) 0.0 1.8 1.3 -0.5 12
Table 5.3: Ideal and expected family size by gender – averages shown
Current number of children Ideal number of children Expected number of children Difference Base size
Men (all) 1.0 2.6 2.3 -0.3 21
Women (all) 1.2 2.6 2.1 -0.5 32
Men (parents) 2.3 3.0 2.6 -0.4 9
Women (parents) 1.9 3.2 3.0 -0.2 21
Men (not parents) 0.0 2.3 2.1 -0.2 12
Women (not parents) 0.0 1.5 0.3 -1.2 11
Table 5.4: Ideal and expected family size by age – averages shown
Current number of children Ideal number of children Expected number of children Difference Base size
18-25 (all) 1.0 2.4 2.3 -0.1 16
25-45 (all) 1.2 2.7 2.1 -0.6 37
18-25 (parents) 1.8 2.6 2.4 -0.1 9
25-45 (parents) 2.1 3.4 3.0 -0.3 21
18-25 (not parents) 0.0 2.1 2.0 -0.1 7
25-45 (not parents) 0.0 1.8 0.9 -0.9 16
Table 5.5: Ideal and expected family size by urban/rural – averages shown
Current number of children Ideal number of children Expected number of children Difference Base size
Urban (all) 1.2 2.7 2.3 -0.4 37
Small town (all) 1.4 2.7 2.4 -0.3 7
Rural (all) 0.8 1.9 1.2 -0.7 9

Contact

Email: population@gov.scot

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