CV NEWS FEED // Several Pew surveys of American adults ages 18 to 50 found that a growing number say they are unlikely to ever have children.
In a summary report released on July 22, Pew shared a survey conducted in August 2023 that discovered that 47% of adults said they were not likely to have children, up from 2018, when only 37% of adults said the same thing. When the same question was asked in 2021, 44% of adults said they wouldn’t have children.
Fifty percent of adults surveyed in 2023 said they would likely have children, but the number has decreased from 55% in 2021 and 61% in 2018.
Another survey conducted in April and May 2024 asked two categories of adults (one aged 18 to 49, the other aged 50 or older) why they will not or did not have children. Of the younger group, 57% responded that they “just don’t want to,” 44% said they want to focus on other things, 38% cited concerns about the state of the world, and 36% said they couldn’t afford it. Others said they didn’t really like children, they hadn’t found the right partner, or experienced infertility, among other reasons.
Among women in the 18 to 49 age group, 64% said they “just didn’t want to” have children, compared to 50% of men in the same group. Twenty-two percent of women cited negative family experiences growing up as a reason not to have children. Just 13% of men said the same thing.
Eighty percent of adults in the younger age group also said that it was easier for them to have time for hobbies and interests, and 79% said they could afford the things they want. Seventy-five percent said living child-free made it easier to save for the future, and 61% said the same thing about having a successful career.
Adults aged 50 or older who never had children were most likely to say that “it just never happened” (39%), that they didn’t find the right partner (33%), or they “just didn’t want to” (31%).
Adults in the older age group were less likely to say that they wanted to focus on other things (21%), and even less likely to have based their decision to not have children off of the state of the world (13%), the economy (12%), or the environment (6%).
Many said that living a child-free life made it easier to have a social life (57%), afford things they want (61%), save for the future (57%), and have a successful career (44%), but in lower numbers compared with the younger age group.
When child-free adults in the older group were asked about aging, 26% said they frequently worry about who will care for them in the future, 35% said they are often concerned about having enough money as they age, and 19% said they are often extremely worried about being lonely as they get older.
