Many posts have discussed demographic trends, especially the decline of births and the aging of the population.
The U.S. fertility rate reached a historic low in 2023, with a growing share of women ages 25 to 44 having never given birth.
And the share of U.S. adults younger than 50 without children who say they are unlikely to ever have kids rose 10 percentage points between 2018 and 2023 (from 37% to 47%), according to a Pew Research Center survey.
In this report, we explore the experiences of two groups of U.S. adults:
About four-in-ten of those in the older group (38%) say there was a time when they wanted to have children. A smaller but sizable share (32%) say they never wanted children, and 25% say they weren’t sure one way or the other. Few say they frequently felt pressure to have children from family, friends or society in general.
- Those ages 50 and older who don’t have children
- Those younger than 50 who don’t have children and say they are unlikely to in the future
