How many French people regret having children? A new study provides figures

Parental regret is a social issue tabooyet it concerns a large part of the population.

The YouGov Institute conducted an investigation on 3,486 people in Europeincluding France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.

13% of French people regret having children

In this investigation, we learn about it 80% to 88% of European parents do not regret having had children, and that less than 20% of parents are affected by parental regret. More precisely, 13% of the French11% of British, 9% of Italians, 15% of Germans and 16% of Spaniards admit regret.

The generations of parents are not all influenced by these figures. Indeed, we learn that the older the age, the less regret there is. Parents over 55 are only 8% concerned about this parental regret, compared with 33% of 18-24 year olds. Almost one in three parents in this age group would therefore admit their regrets.

Parental regret, and more precisely maternal regret, although this study does not specifically target mothers, remains a social topic that is still too taboo.

If you feel worried, don’t hesitate to talk about it and don’t keep this burden to yourself. If you don’t feel like talking to a professional, you can also reach out to Instagram accounts like @le_regret_maternel or ask @mal_de_meres for support if that can help. You are not alone.

Photo credit: grinvalds via Getty Images pro