The youngest in the family is most likely to be a millionaire, says Science

Being the baby of the family entails a lot of advantages and disadvantages, but the findings of a new study may prove that the benefits of being the youngest in the brood outweigh any setbacks.

According to a study conducted by researchers at Universities of Birmingham and Reading, the youngest sibling is more likely to become a risk-taking millionaire entrepreneur in the future.

After looking into the traits of 17,000 children born in 1970 coming from families of various numbers of siblings, the researchers concluded that birth order has an effect on a person’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Youngest kids with two siblings in a non-entrepreneurial family were 49% more likely to take risks and become a businessman or woman. Last-born children of non-entrepreneurial parents with three siblings were found to be 43% more likely to become entrepreneurs or self-employed.

On the other hand, last-borns from entrepreneurial families behaved differently as only 18% of them were likely to follow their parents into business. Oldest and middle-born siblings had higher chances of becoming entrepreneurs in this set-up.

“One implication of our findings is that family business owners need to think hard about how they use birth order to make decisions about family succession,” Dr. Liang Han at the University of Reading said.