People are loving this 29-year-old's hot take on why millennials aren't having kids (2024)

FAQs

Why aren't millennials having children? ›

"When you are making as little money as millennials are, childcare is literally inaccessible." Childcare continues to be one of the most significant expenses for families, and a new report found that childcare is now more expensive than rent for the average American family (about two children) in most regions.

Of those who said they're unlikely to have children, 57% said "they just don't want to." Among the other reasons: 44% said they wanted to focus on different things. 38% pointed to the state of the world, other than the environment. And 36% said they couldn't afford to raise a child.

Indeed, fear is in general a major motivation for voluntary childlessness, and some are also concerned with disabilities, rendering childcare even more challenging; or that the children might grow up to be immoral people.

“Few childfree people feel a kind of cold regret. They might sometimes fantasise about how their life would have turned out if they'd had children - while still knowing they made the right choice for themselves and their life.”

Of millennials (ages 27-42) who aren't parents, just 25% say they plan to have kids, while 61% don't and 14% aren't sure.

Changing Life Choices Affect Fertility

Today, that age is closer to 26 or 27. Many couples are waiting longer to start their families – they may want to finish their educations first, or get established in their careers. We see a lot more divorce now, too, and remarriages. When people delay having a family, Dr.

(WLNS) — A follow-up study confirmed research from Michigan State University that 1 in 5 people who choose not to have children do not regret their decision later in life. In 2022, MSU released findings that determined that approximately 21.64% of the U.S. population does not have children.

The most frequently mentioned effects are distress, raised depression and anxiety levels, lowered self-esteem, feelings of blame and guilt, somatic complaints, and reduced sexual interest.

It's completely normal that some people, both men and women, won't desire children in their lifetime, Ambardar says. Even if this life choice is still viewed as unconventional in society, it's important that people who are contemplating a child-free life avoid conforming just to fit in.

New research has confirmed that increasingly fewer Millennials and Gen Zers are having children, and there is a “scary” reason why. More than half of 18- to 34-year-olds are choosing not to have children due to financial challenges, according to newly released data from Australian research company the Red Bridge.

Are people happier if they don't have kids? ›

For at least 30 years, studies have repeatedly found that people without children are happier than parents in the United States and in many developed countries.

Just over one-fifth (21 per cent) of childless women aged 18-34 recently polled by Pew Research Centre said they don't ever want to be parents, compared to 15 per cent of men. Conversely, 57 per cent of men said they want to have children some day, versus 45 per cent of women.

With the youngest ages as an exception, males have a higher proportion of childlessness than females.

The reality is that it's a deeply personal decision. Only you can answer whether or not you will regret not having kids. The best thing you can do is to evaluate your feelings, consider the pros and cons, and make the decision that works best for you and your life.

“Many adults are child-free, and there do not seem to be differences by age, education or income,” said Zachary Neal, associate professor of psychology at MSU and co-author of the study. “However, being child-free is somewhat more common among adults who identify as male, white or who have always been single.”

We all went through pandemic, but for them: wage stagnation, Great Recession, unprecedented levels of college student loans to pay back, delays in buying a home. Am I missing anything? Chris Farrell: No, those are the main reasons why millennials, they've been called the unluckiest generation and the lost generation.

But on many fronts, Millennials are struggling. Incarceration rates among Millennial young adults are dramatically higher than they were when members of the Silent Generation and Baby Boom were the same age. The federal minimum wage hasn't risen since 2009, but inflation and cost of living have.

“People are increasingly gravitating to the freedom and to the financial benefits of just being a couple and not having kids.” The survey also reported that 59% of Gen Zers said improving their health was an important goal to achieve within the next five years.

According to Wikipedia, a 2004 marketing study conducted by Reach Advisors stated that Gen X kids “went through its all-important, formative years as one of the least parented, least nurtured generations in U.S. history.” As previously mentioned, latchkey kids were prevalent during this time, a result of increased ...