Katharina Buczek
During the COVID-19 pandemic, baby birth rates dropped in the United States due to the parallel health and economic crises. Since then, a Pew Research Center survey has found that an increasing number of U.S. adults report they will likely never have children for a variety of reasons.
The participants in this survey were a part of the American Trends Panel (ATP), a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults created by the Pew Research Center.
A total of 3,866 participants between the ages of 18 and 49 took the survey, which was conducted in October 2021 and weighted to be representative of the United States adult population by race, ethnicity, gender, education, partisan affiliation, and other categories.
It was found that, since 2018, the share of non-parents under the age of 50 who believe it is “not too likely” or “not at all likely” that they will have kids has risen 7 percentage points– growing from 37% in 2018 to 44% in 2021.
At the same time, 74% of adults under the age of 50 who already have children claimed they are unlikely to have additional kids.
Men and women were equally likely to report that they will likely not have kids– or any more kids– in the future among both parents and non-parents.
And interestingly, the majority of non-parents under the age of 50 who reported it was unlikely they would have kids someday– or 56%– cited that they simply do not want to have children.
Among the remaining 43% of childless adults who don’t want kids, there is no single reason that stands out. Instead, the survey revealed mixed concerns among non-parents under the age of 50.
Approximately 19% of this group claimed their thought process behind not wanting kids is tied to medical reasons; meanwhile, 17% pointed to financial reasons, and 15% said it was because they did not have a partner.
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