{"id":182169,"date":"2024-07-25T09:57:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T13:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=182169"},"modified":"2025-07-21T09:41:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T13:41:44","slug":"reasons-adults-give-for-not-having-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2024\/07\/25\/reasons-adults-give-for-not-having-children\/","title":{"rendered":"1. Reasons adults give for not having children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Among U.S. adults who don\u2019t have children, those ages 50 and older have mixed views on whether they ever wanted<\/em> to have them in the first place. And their reasons for never having kids differ from those given by younger adults who say they\u2019re unlikely to have them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top reason cited by those ages 50 and older is that it just never happened. Adults ages 18 to 49 are most likely to say they just don\u2019t want to have children. These younger adults are also more likely than those in the older group to point to things like wanting to focus on other things, the state of the world or the environment, and financial concerns as major reasons they\u2019re unlikely to have kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views on wanting children<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About four-in-ten adults ages 50 and older who never had children (38%) say there was a time when they wanted to have them. About a third (32%) say they never wanted to have children, while a quarter say they weren\u2019t sure whether or not they wanted to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no differences between men and women on this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But among women, those with at least a bachelor\u2019s degree are more likely than those with less education to say they never wanted to have children (34% vs. 27%). There are no differences by education among men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reasons adults ages 50 and older didn\u2019t have children<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Adults ages 50 and older were asked to indicate how much each of 11 reasons factored into why they did not have children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About four-in-ten (39%) say a major reason they didn\u2019t have children is that it just never happened.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About a third say a major reason is that they didn\u2019t find the right partner<\/strong> (33%) or that they just didn\u2019t want to<\/strong> have children<\/strong> (31%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About one-in-five or fewer point to different reasons, including wanting to focus on other things, like their job or other interests (21%), and infertility or other medical reasons affecting them or their spouse or partner (15%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons adults ages 50 and older give for not having children vary greatly by whether or not they ever<\/em> wanted to have kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About half of those who wanted <\/em>children at one point but never had any (51%) say it just never happened, compared with 20% of those who never wanted<\/em> kids. They\u2019re also more likely than those who never wanted children to say not finding the right partner (41% vs. 21%) and infertility (25% vs. 5%) are major reasons they never had children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, a majority of those who say they never wanted to have kids (77%) say it\u2019s because they just didn\u2019t want to. About one-in-five or more say a major reason is that they wanted to focus on other things (37%), they don\u2019t really like children (22%), concerns about the state of the world, other than the environment (20%), or negative experiences with their own family growing up (18%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Differences by gender<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, men and women ages 50 and older do not differ in the reasons they give for why they never had children. The differences that do exist are modest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About four-in-ten men in this group (41%) say a major reason is that it just never happened, compared with 36% of women. Men are also more likely than women to point to concerns about the state of the world (15% vs. 10%) and not being able to afford to raise a child (14% vs. 9%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And about one-in-five women (18%) say infertility is a major reason they didn\u2019t have children, while 12% of men say the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Differences by education<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among adults ages 50 and older who don\u2019t have children, those with a bachelor\u2019s degree or more education are more likely than those with some college or less education to say each of the following is a major reason they didn\u2019t have children:<\/p>\n\n\n\n