As Prince William and Catherine plan for their first child, we thought we would try to help them out, and examine just how much it really costs us to raise a baby these days. Now in the UK according to figures compiled by Halifax Bank, it puts the average cost at nearly 13,000 dollars a year, that's an increase of 15% from 2007, and that means spending around 145,000 dollars before the child even hits the age of 12. Now in the US estimates put that figure even higher at 235,000 dollars before the age of 17, that's according to the United States department of agriculture. Now the total has gone up due to increases in schooling, child care, transportation and housing cost, but let's be honest here, the royal couple probably won't have to worry too much about watching the purse strings and Allen somehow I seem to believe that they probably won't have to worry about things like private school tuition or college tuition those kind of things the rest of us have to worry about. The numbers are fascinating.