“My second mum and dad” - Grandparents Plus

Chapter 2
What do we know about
grandparents today?
Existing evidence
It is estimated that there are currently 14 million Grandparents in the UK 2.1 .
A third of the population are grandparents 2.2 and it is expected that around
three quarters of the population will become grandparents in their lifetime 2.3 .
Recently there has been an increase in the number of people who become
grandparents and they are living longer 2.4 .
Because people are living longer, men and women may spend longer being
grandparents (average 25 years) than being hands-on parents (18 years). Today
80% of young adults belong to families comprised of 3 or more generations or
what has become known as the ‘slim’ or ‘beanpole’ family 2.5 . Four generation
families are also becoming more common, particularly amongst working class
families. These families are also amongst the poorest with higher levels of
great-grandchild poverty 2.6 .
Our ageing population means that overall grandparents are getting older but
working class women are four times more likely than middle class women to
become a grandparent before their 50th birthday 2.7 . But grandparents are also
getting poorer. The proportion of grandparents with grandchildren under 16
who are living on low incomes increased by a third between 1998 and 2007
(from 18% to 26%) 2.8 .
Because of the decline in family size there has been a reduction in the number
of grandchildren per grandparent. In the 1950s one in five grandparents had 10
or more grandchildren while today the ratio is one in 20 2.9 . The mean number
of grandchildren of all ages per grandparent is 4.4 2.10 . A recent study 2.11 found
that grandparents showed great socio-demographic variability. The youngest
grandparent interviewed was aged 37 and the oldest was aged 94 and the maximum
number of grandchildren was 23. The maximum number of sets of grandchildren
(that is grandchildren who live together) counted for one grandparent was 20.
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