The glory of grandparents

Demographic change, like continental drift, is too gradual to be visible day by day but eventually it shakes the world. People live two decades longer than they did in 1960, and women have half as many children. One of the many ways in which this has transformed family dynamics concerns grandparents. There are a lot more of them, and they each have fewer grandchildren to dote on.

Surprisingly little is known about this trend, so The Economist commissioned some research. This found that the number of grandparents in the world has roughly trebled since 1960, to 1.5bn, and the ratio of grandparents to children under 15 has jumped from 0.46 in 1960 to 0.8 today. This matters because grandparents pass on knowledge and traditions and maintain a family’s links with the past. More vitally, they help bring up children, and free mothers to work outside the home.

Many parents are happier entrusting their children to their grandma than to anyone else. (Grandpas do much less child care, though more than in the past.) Grandparents love the kids, do not need paying and are often available at short notice. In Mexico grandmothers help look after nearly 40% of children under six. During an average week in America, 50% of very young children and 35% of primary-schoolers see a grandparent.

Numerous studies find that mothers with granny-nannies earn more than they otherwise would. One way to measure this is to observe what happens when a grandmother dies. In Mexico working mothers who relied on a grandmother but lost her saw their earnings fall by half. This effect even applies, to a lesser extent, in societies such as India, where grandparents often enforce old-fashioned sexist norms. After the death of rural Indian grandmothers, the daughters-in-law who live them are less likely to work outside the home. In this area, at least, the help mothers-in-law give with child care and other chores seems to outweigh their demands that daughters-in-law stay home and press their husbands’ shirts.

Grandparents’ care is good for grandchildren, too. In parts of Africa the presence of a grandmother makes it more likely that a child will survive. In the rich world it is unclear whether the presence of grandparents boosts academic scores or social skills, but it certainly doesn’t hurt them. Granted, children raised solely by a grandmother do badly, but that is because their parents are presumably dead, in prison or absent for some other reason. Living with her is better than living with a stranger, or in an orphanage.

Care from grandparents does have some disadvantages. Families that rely on it are less likely to move to another city for a better job. So they often end up earning less than they could have. Also, grandmothers often retire early, or work less hours, to make time for their grandchildren. If this is what they choose, fine. But it means that the gains to society from helping mothers into the labour force are partly offset by grandmothers leaving it.

Raising children is hard work. Whoever does it, the state should help. Some governments provide subsidised nurseries. A simpler approach, which does not penalise stay-at-home parents, would be to give cash to parents with young children. They can spend it on the child-care arrangements that suit them. Or it could help one parent work part-time or not at all. Grandparents who are primary carers should get this money, too. And money spent on child care should be tax-deductible, so the system does not favour informal care over the formal sort. Meanwhile, families with living grandparents should rejoice in their good fortune—and be glad that more and more children are sharing it. ■