Being a parent is losing its appeal.
A new study by the Pew Research Center found that over 3,800 Americans are 18 to 49 years old. It's not likely for non-parents in this cohort to have kids someday. The percentage of childless adults who said the same was up by 7 percentage points.
There is no single factor behind the increase in Americans not having children. More than half of this group doesn't want kids. Medical reasons and financial reasons were the top two reasons cited by the remaining 43%.
The majority of adults who are already parents say they're unlikely to have more kids. Most of them said they don't want more kids. Financial and age reasons were the top deterrents to babymaking.
Anna Brown told Insider that medical reasons include infertility or an illness, while financial reasons include things like childcare costs or job loss, which millions of Americans had experienced during the Pandemic.
Money has long been a reason why many young people have put off having kids or not having them at all. The financial crisis and coronaviruses downturn the generation has experienced back-to-back have the strongest economic influence on birth and fertility rates.
The price of having a child is high. Child Care Aware says that the national cost of child care is between $9,000 and 9,600 annually. That's not affordable for many working parents in the US.
The cost of raising a child has increased. It explains a lot about the growing share of Americans who don't want to have kids.
Women are looking for different paths in life.
The baby bust news has marked much of the year. The US birth rate has fallen by 4% in the last year and is the lowest number of births since 1979 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brown said it's too early to tell how the recent findings will affect the birth rate. The number of births in the US has been declining for six years as women wait to have babies later in life.
We can't really predict how it will change in the future, but we have seen this expectation of having children falling over the last few years.
She said that women are having children later in life. Women may be having more children at the end of their childbearing years.
If you look at global trends, that's normal. Christine Percheski, an associate professor of sociology at Northwestern University, previously told Insider that there has been a shift among high-income countries and some middle-income countries for women to delay having kids until later ages. She said that the US was a little slower to see that increase. It is a sign of economic progress to see it now.
It's about women having access to education and employment. The rise in individualism is the topic. It's about the rise in women's independence and a change in values.
Gina Tomaine wrote for Philly Mag that the economic experiences of the young people have made them question what makes a successful life.
"Maybe a full, rich life is one that's overflowing with creativity, travel, exploration, all stuff that kids make more difficult," she pondered.
