The Family Report 2003: Choosing Happiness?

Article

This report examines the relationship between happiness and having children. Over the last 30 years, people in Britain have become more affluent but have not become much happier. Over the same period the birth rate has declined. We know that family has an important part to play in happiness but whether the fact that we are having fewer children is in turn connected to how happy we are in unclear.

To explore this connection we held a series of focus groups and conducted a survey of 1,500 men and women across Britain.

Related items

  1. A group of healthcare professionals sitting in a staff common room in a hospital in Newcastle

    Building a healthier, wealthier Britain: Launching the IPPR Centre for Health and Prosperity

    Following the success of our Commission on Health and Prosperity, IPPR is excited to launch the Centre for Health and Prosperity.
  2. The Home Office building in London

    A ‘paradigm shift’ in asylum and immigration policy?

    In 2019, a package of asylum reforms known as the ‘paradigm shift’ was passed by a broad party consensus in the Danish parliament.
  3. A wide shot of the debating chamber at the Scottish parliament

    A return north: reflections on IPPR Scotland’s tenth anniversary conference

    There’s nothing like moving away from Scotland to remind you just how Scottish you are.