They have a lot of stamina on the playground with their grandchildren, but they also still have to go to work: young grandparents in their early 40s who are far from reaching retirement age are now rare.
So rare that actor Felix von Jascheroff (“Good times, bad times”), who is in the new season of the RTL jungle camp, even made headlines with it. He became a grandfather at the age of 41. How common are there still young grandparents – and what sets them apart?
Age of parents at first birth is increasing
One thing is certain: Young grandparents are a rare phenomenon in Germany, the trend is going in a different direction. “Grandparents are actually getting older when they become grandparents, which is because the age at which the first child is born has shifted to an increasingly older age,” says Karsten Hank, who works at the Institute for Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of Cologne researches family, generational relationships, age and health.
According to the Federal Statistical Office from 2022, the average age of women at the birth of their first child in Germany is around 30 years – for fathers it is around 33. “In West and East Germany, the age of women at the birth of their first child is has increased steadily over the last 50 years,” emphasizes Carmen Friedrich from the Federal Institute for Population Research (BIB). The proportion of young mothers has fallen. If you look at all live births in 2022, only ten percent (around 77,000 newborns) had a mother who was under 25 years old, says Friedrich.
In the “German Aging Survey” conducted by the German Center for Aging, almost half of the people surveyed between the ages of 46 and 90 said they had at least one grandchild. According to the findings, men are on average almost 56 years old when their first grandchild is born, while women are almost 53 years old. Hank doesn’t think it’s a big deal that expectant grandparents tend to get older. “Because grandparents now live longer on average than ours, the amount of time they can spend with their grandchildren has actually increased.” We are talking about a common lifespan of at least 20 years nationwide; on average, grandmothers even have significantly longer years.
Close to the reality of life of the grandchildren
Is there an ideal age to become a grandma or grandpa? “Young grandparents are closer to the reality of life of the children and grandchildren. On the other hand, older grandparents have more time resources, more life experience and can impart other things – older grandparents are contemporary witnesses,” says Andreas Reidl, board member of the website grosseltern.de.
Karsten Hank from the University of Cologne also observes a trend towards active aging: “You don’t sit at home all day peeling potatoes or planting flowers in the garden.” In addition, grandparents would tend to spend their time more actively with their grandchildren by going out or playing sports. That’s why it’s not a problem if grandparenthood starts later today than in the past, says Hank.
The proportion of grandparents looking after grandchildren remains very high, emphasizes Hank. “More than half take on care tasks more or less regularly.” Taking care of grandchildren can be meaningful, especially after leaving the workforce.
