The number of couples without children will overtake the number of traditional nuclear families for the first time next year, as couples increasingly delay having babies and the general population ages.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Social researcher Mark McCrindle described it as a changing of the generational guard with implications for housing, work participation and service expectations.
"Gen Y are entering the family formation years in their 30s," he said.
Mr McCrindle will discuss the formation, location and habits of Australian families at the National Quality Framework conference in Sydney on Thursday.
In 1983, the average age of a first-time bride was 22; now it is 30. The average woman has her first child at 31, compared with 25 a generation ago and the age of first-time grooms has risen from 25 to 32.
At the other end of the family life cycle, more couples are living longer in their homes after their children have grown up and moved out.
''They're happily living in the empty nest. They don't need retirement care,'' Mr McCrindle said. Male life expectancy has risen from 71 to 80, and female life expectancy is up from 78 to 84.
The trend to delay marriage and babies, and the ageing of the population will combine next year to make the ''couple, no kids'' the top family formation in Australia.
In the families with children at home, more women are remaining in the workforce, which means the number of children in childcare will continue to rise.
Mr McCrindle said that new families were increasingly choosing medium- to high-density living close to the CBD, rather than shifting to a house in the suburbs. He added that while transport, shopping and the café´ lifestyle tended to be better in inner suburbs, these locations would need to cater to the specific needs of couples with young children.
