Because it is very likely to be the biggest expense you will have apart from rent/mortgage payments. In the UK it is easily 50% of the take home pay of one pare

Because it is very likely to be the biggest expense you will have apart from rent/mortgage payments. In the UK it is easily 50% of the take home pay of one parent if they are on a "good" above average wage. It will soak up the the full take home pay of one parent on an average wage or around that. There are government funded childcare hours (that are increasing finally) which help, but it's still a tough choice unless both parents have earnings well above average. Families get spread out because children are priced out of where their parents live, and can only afford a small home. So the grandparent support is often hard to make work too. I find it curious that the type of people that moan about low birth rates and the loss of "family values" are also the ones voting for politicians that block house building and impose spending cuts on government services like childcare. Not having children in the current political climate is a rational choice.