Even Americans Say "I Don't Want to Have Kids"... Reasons Behind the Growing Trend

PuriSearch Survey of Childless Adults Under 50
57% Say 'Just Because', 44% Say 'To Focus on Other Things'

A survey revealed that the number of Americans who say they will not have children is steadily increasing.

On the 25th (local time), the American internet media Axios released the results of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center from August 7 to 27 last year, targeting 770 childless American adults under the age of 50. Nearly half of the respondents, 47%, answered that they "do not think they will ever have children." Pew Research explained that this rate is 10 percentage points higher than the same survey conducted in 2018 and 3 percentage points higher than the 2021 survey.

The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Beds in the neonatal unit left empty due to low birth rates.

When respondents who said they had no plans to have children were asked about the main reasons for their decision (multiple answers allowed), 57% said they simply "do not want to have children." The next most common reason was "wanting to focus on other things (44%)," followed by concerns about "the state of the world (38%)" and "financial inability to afford child-rearing costs (36%)." Only 13% cited infertility or other medical reasons.

Women showed more negative responses toward childbirth and parenting than men. Among female respondents, 64% said they "do not want to have children," while 50% of male respondents gave the same answer.

Pew Research stated, "Most respondents said that by not having children, they could more easily achieve professional success and actively participate in social life," but also noted, "If there were someone to help care for children while they grow up, parents would find it easier to have children." Axios pointed out that "while the number of newborns is declining in most developed countries worldwide, in the U.S., those who choose not to have children at all are driving this trend."

The tendency to avoid marriage and childbirth is similarly observed in South Korea. In March, the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy announced that the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs conducted a survey last August targeting 2,000 men and women aged 19 to 49 nationwide, which showed similar results.

According to the survey, among 1,059 respondents excluding legally married adults, only 51.7% said they "intend to marry," followed by 24.5% who said "do not intend to marry," 19.1% who "have not decided yet," and 4.8% who "have never thought about it."

When all respondents were asked whether they plan to have children, nearly half, 46%, said "do not plan to have children." In contrast, only 28.3% said they "plan to have children." The responses "have not decided yet (19.9%)" and "have never thought about it (5.9%)" were relatively fewer. Among married respondents without children, 46.5% said they "plan to have children," followed by 26.4% who "have not decided yet," 24.7% who "do not plan to have children," and 2.4% who "have never thought about it."

The majority of respondents, 93.9%, recognized the decline in birth rates as a social problem. The proportion who answered that "the decline in birth rates will have a negative impact on future generations" was also high at 93.1%. Among various causes of low birth rates, they gave the highest score (8.72 points) to the "difficulty of balancing work and childcare."