Than Previously Thought Far More Adults Don’t Want Children
Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University and Zachary Neal, Michigan State University
Fertility rates in the United States have plunged to record lows, and this could be related to the fact that more people are choosing not to have children.
But just how many “child-free” adults there are has been tricky for researchers to pin down.
National fertility data provided by the U.S. Census and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lump together all adults who aren’t parents, making it difficult to understand how many people identify as child-free.
As social scientists, we think it’s important to distinguish child-free individuals from those who are childless or not yet parents. People who are child-free make the conscious decision not to have kids. They’re distinct from childless...