Experts Concerned As Americans Are Rapidly Losing Interest In Having Kids, According To New Poll

Americans Are Losing Interest In Having Kids Birth Rates To New Poll

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  • Birth rates in the United States dropped during the pandemic, and according to a new Pew Research Center poll, they’re going to keep going down.
  • This trend is causing concern about the future of the economy and whether there will be enough workers to sustain it in the long-term.
  • More studies news here.

A new Pew Research Center poll has revealed that coinciding with declining birth rates, a growing number of American adults who are currently not parents claim they are unlikely to ever have children.

“Some 44% of non-parents ages 18 to 49 say it is not too or not at all likely that they will have children someday, an increase of 7 percentage points from the 37% who said the same in a 2018 survey,” the Pew Research Center announced. “Meanwhile, 74% of adults younger than 50 who are already parents say they are unlikely to have more kids, virtually unchanged since 2018.”

The Washington Post reports that this continuing decline in the U.S. birthrate has experts concerned about the lack of population growth negatively affecting the future economy and the ability to fund social programs.

Some of the key findings…

• 56% of non-parents younger than 50 who say it’s unlikely they will have children someday say they just don’t want to have kids.

• Among those who gave other reasons, 19% say it’s unlikely they will have kids someday due to medical reasons.

• 17% say it’s for financial reasons.

• 15% say it’s because they do not have a partner.

• 10% say it’s because of their age or their partner’s age.

• 9% blame the state of the world as the reason why they don’t plan to have kids.

• 5% cite environmental reasons, including climate change.

• 2% say their partner doesn’t want children.

When it comes to 18- to 49-year-old parents who say they are unlikely to have more children in the future, again a majority (63%) say it’s because they just don’t want to. Fathers (69%) are more likely to say this than mothers (59%), as are parents younger than 40 (71%) when compared with those 40 to 49 (57%).

Among those younger than 50 who say there was some other reason why they probably will not have more children, age (theirs or their partner’s) and medical reasons were among the top reasons why (29% and 23% of this group said so, respectively), followed by financial reasons (14%) and the fact that they already have kids (11%). Smaller shares cite the state of the world (4%), not having a partner (2%) or having a partner who doesn’t want kids (2%).

Interestingly, about a quarter of parents younger than 40 who don’t expect to have more children in the future cite financial reasons (26%), compared with 8% of those age 40 to 49.

A CNBC report back in January addressed the United States’ aging population, falling birth rates, and what business leaders and policymakers can do about it.

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Before settling down at BroBible, Douglas Charles, a graduate of the University of Iowa (Go Hawks), owned and operated a wide assortment of websites. He is also one of the few White Sox fans out there and thinks Michael Jordan is, hands down, the GOAT.