The technology that was meant to streamline the search for love has left us lonelier and more frustrated than ever

Why are fertility rates at an all-time low ? Since the figures for England and Wales were released last week, we’ve heard the same old theories. The cost of living means that couples can’t afford to start a family. Career-hungry women are eschewing children. Childcare and house prices mean that families are reluctant to expand.

Yet these analyses ignore a key group: those who would like to have children with a partner but are single. In a 2021 survey of women who were “childless by circumstance”, of those women who wanted children but had not tried to have them, four in 10 said this was because of the lack of a partner. Which leads us to a hidden factor in the decline in fertility: a crisis in modern dating.

Siân Boyle is a freelance journalist