Why aren’t millennials and Gen Z having kids? It’s the economy, stupid
https://fortune.com/2024/07/25/why-arent-millennials-and-gen-z-having-kids-its-the-economy-stupid/
Why aren’t millennials and Gen Z having kids? It’s the economy, stupid
https://fortune.com/2024/07/25/why-arent-millennials-and-gen-z-having-kids-its-the-economy-stupid/
44 Comments
From the article: Adults in their prime childbearing years are having fewer kids than the generations before them, something that came to a head in 2023 when the U.S. fertility rate reached its lowest level ever. And while every individual has their own reasons for not conceiving, the soaring cost of living is a major consideration for younger generations.
In fact, people under 50 without kids are three times as likely as older childless people—36% compared with 12%—to say they can’t afford to have them, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. Since 2018, the share of young U.S. adults who say they are unlikely to ever have kids increased from 37% to 47% in 2023.
That said, while money is a factor, it wasn’t the main reason given by those under 50 for not having kids. For this cohort, the top reason is that they simply don’t want to. Pew surveyed 2,542 adults age 50 and older who don’t have children and 770 adults ages 18 to 49 who do not or don’t plan to have kids.
Of course, young people could change their minds. But Pew’s research highlights a major problem for younger generations today. While they may be able to secure higher salaries than their parents, they are paying far, far more for things like housing, childcare, and health expenses. That’s causing more to rethink having kids. In fact, a majority of both those older and younger than 50 said not having kids made it easier for them to afford their lifestyle and save for the future, per Pew’s report.
The capital class wants their cake and to eat it too. That doesn’t work for the working class. You cant price us out of living and then demand we have children we literally cannot afford.
Make childcare and child Healthcare free. Give us subsidies for feeding our kids. Thats the bare minimum.
Then incentivize it with tax cuts or straight payments.
All of this HAS to be supplied through taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the country or well be back to square 1.
we cant afford anything, and im scared to bring a kid into this world knowing they cant buy anything like a phone or a lemon.
Good. Fuck the system where most people are priced out of affordable housing, or other necessities.
Many are struggling to meet rent.
Kids are expensive…
It’s the economy, and the fear of being forced to carry an nonviable pregnancy to term in the US or book a flight and face prison time for doing what was perfectly legal 2 years ago.
Why aren’t millennials and gen-zers producing children so we can exploit them too? Are they stupid?
It’s culture,
If the housing and cost of living crisis disappeared today we would see a slight bump in fertility and it would return to current levels in a generation. Keep in kind birthrates dropped below 2.1 between the 70s and 90s.
I heard an amazing quip and I will share it here. Nobody cares about the middle and lower class until they stop reproducing.
And imo they’ll keep not caring until it’s too late. See: Japan and Korea. Even China is starting to face the issue in a bad way.
Every article I’ve seen from every country that has studied this basically says the same thing.
People are overworked and underpaid and cannot justify the expense of having children when they can barely have confidence in their ability to make rent month to month.
And in every case the reaction has been to do everything but address the problem.
Japan wants to create a Dating App
France is introducing free fertility checks.
And here in the US we’re just making any kind of attempt at family planning illegal.
My millenial daughter is trying to get pregnant. My millenial daughter-in-law will never carry a baby, but it has more to do with the movie Alien than any economic factors.
Is it the economy, or the fact that we’re an urbanized society?
It literally is an unwise and unsustainable investment for many of us.
Before my boyfriend I didn’t see children as an option. There was no way I could afford it. Now. Who knows?
And World War 3. And Civil War 2. And a global pandemic. And the upcoming bird flu pandemic. And climate change. And the atrocities happening in the Middle East.
Really, all that biblical shit about “the end times” is happening and nobody wants to drag a helpless soul into all this mess.
No support. Our parents work or worked all thier life to retire and now we all have to work so we do t have time to be with our kids and FYI it’s about 12-15k a year for daycare if it’s not subsidized by the government.
Surely it’s not only economic.
It’s largely cultural as well.
Individualism makes people focus on themselves more than their families, a general (probably reasonable) sense of pessimism makes people cautious and lacking in confidence for big life changes, and an outsized media culture locks people in to virtual lives.
In addition, very few people live on farms now, so extra children turn from an asset to a liability.
Also, culture is reacting to the gains made by medical technology that allow most or all of your children to survive to adulthood, dissolving the need to have several to improve the odds, not to mention the expansion in birth control and abortion.
I would bet that economic factors are a small part of it.
Do you think that people 100 or 200 years ago had more children because the material conditions of life were better?
But also – kids have you seen them? I mean really? Cumon? Nah I’m good 😂
We got to a point around 40 (now) where it would be absolutely feasible to have a kid. But now we don’t want to because we can do things we want. lol
I have good enough finances to have children and always wanted to have, but Im afraid I wont be able to find a partner, Im in mid 30s right now and only got a relationship that lasted a few years in my whole life and most women I meet dont eant to have children.
Statistic checking in, could not afford to raise a single child presently, and I’m in my 30s and have worked in my field for over a decade.
I’ve seen my old man for 4-6 weeks out of the year for nearly the past 20 years because of the work he stepped into when the mortgage crisis hit.
I won’t have kids until I have the ability to be apart of their lives.
If every life event is delayed where are children supposed to fit in. We have made zero attempt to create broad prosperity and instead funneled everything into a rat race for a ever shrinking American dream
I disagree. People had kids in very poor situations. The reason is, kids have gone from being the most important thing to do in your life to being a luxury in Western countries.
Kids require both adults to work to have success, but they need parents support to be successful. So you have to give up on a good life for yourself to have kids, which no longer bring the rich benefits they used to do. Kids now are just an expense.
Why would I subject my child to the dystopian capitalistic hellscape that we have now?
Everyone is blaming the economy while ignoring that the way cultural norms around raising kids have changed dramatically increases both the cost and effort required to raise kids. People in the richest cities to ever exist are arguing that nobody can afford kids anymore when in reality kids just went from being a benefit to being a cost. Our great great grandparents raised kids with less than what most modern pet owners spend on their pets. No matter how wealthy you are being what modern folks consider a decent parent will involve a large negative impact to your wealth and require a ton of effort. Kids have went from being an economic benefit to being an economic liability. Why would anyone be surprised that this would make folks less likely to have kids?
This is a good thing
And one of the few good products of our current late stage capitalism
Ideally this number starts to go into the negative more and more before we hit 2100
My boomer parents each had to work multiple jobs to afford 3 kids, and that was in the 80s/90s. My wife and I decided we wanted a better life and not have to work multiple jobs, nor did we want to bring children into a world that is on fire, and they can’t afford good healthcare or education without going into crippling debt.
The system is broken for families and supports 1%ers and those with endless disposable income.
Part of it is just a cultural trend of prolonging young adulthood longer than previous generations. We’re not having kids in our early 20s anymore because we’re having them in our mid 30s.
Every single couple in my friend group was childless throughout their 20s and swore up and down that they weren’t going to have kids because they couldn’t afford it. Now we’re in our late 30s and only 1/10 couples are still childless.
Finances and the economy definitely have an impact, but there has also been a cultural shift too.
I’m continuously amazed how many times this comes up and the answer is always the same: we’re too broke, everything costs too much, and the world feels like its speed running back into the dark ages. We’re exhausted and we just can’t deal with it.
I hope I don’t sound like a childfree grouch, but I would like to think that in addition to the obvious economical reasons, people are also just not feeling as obligated to have kids as well from societal pressure
In the past, children were an asset. They were a source of free labor on a farm. We don’t live on farms anymore. In a city, children are a massive financial liability. That limits the number of children you can have. Also, the rent is too damn high.
This narrative is hard to square with the fact that:
* Poor countries have more kids than rich countries
* Within countries, poor families have more kids than rich families
* [Each generation in the United States has had higher inflation-adjusted median incomes at comparable ages to each generation that came before it](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=384,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240420_FNC345.png).
So, yeah, the economy might explain falling birthrates, but not in the way you expect: people are better off than ever before, and higher incomes are persistently associated with lower birthrates. As incomes increase, people start to value other things over having children. The opportunity cost of forgoing more labor for childbearing goes up as well.
I maybe have 1-4 hours per week to try to meet new people.
Isn’t there also a decline in male fertility? I remember reading about it somewhere, but I’m not sure where.
It’s not just money. In societies where they throw cash at parents (like Hungary) they still aren’t raising the birth rates significantly.
There’s plenty of theories floating around as to why. Some say urban lifestyles aren’t conducive to having kids. Some think it’s the fall of religion and the changing culture. Some think it’s the normalization of having two working parents or the rise in time in education. Maybe it’s all these things and more. But it’s a consistent problem across the entire developed world.
Boomers when we were young: Don’t have kids if you can’t afford them!
Us: Ok.
Boomers now: Why aren’t you having kids? I really want some grand children!
Us: We can’t afford it, and you said…
Boomers: Oh I see. The problem with your generation is that its….
100% confirm. We’re barely keeping ourselves supplied for.
I am not having kids because I love/would love my hypothetical kid.
Why would I bring them into this shitty world? So that in 2045 they have to pay $10k a month for a micro-apartment that they have to share with 5 other people? So that they have to work 80 hours a week for UberAmazonEvilCorpo for $7.25 an hour? And that would be if they are lucky and they don’t have to go fight in future stupid wars…
The planet is facing real issues and yet politicians and a significant part of the population are foaming at the mouth about the “woke mind virus”
I am not bringing any human in this shitty world just to keep the capitalist ponzi scheme going.
I’m not ever gonna bring a kid into this hell hole. Lol
WE LITERALLY CANNOT AFFORD ANYTHING AND WE ARE LIVING PAY CHECK TO PAY CHECK.
Oh Idk, maybe because we can’t find a stable job, restaurants charging 20+ a meal that also asking you for 20% tips , groceries aren’t cheap as well oh oh and can’t afford housing yea.
And climate change. Id say roughly 25-50% of people near my age (23) that I’ve talked to, consider raising a child to be a bad idea because of global warming/ climate change. They don’t want to put a baby through hell
The world already locks everyone into needing to earn a wage just to survive. If you have kids it locks you into needing an even higher one. That’s more stress and pressure and less freedom. It doesn’t help that the economy is constantly shifting with technological advances making boom and bust industries that are here one minute and gone the next. Global warming is also threatening to make everything more expensive because it will require a lot of investment that doesn’t return a lot of growth in order to deal with and failing to deal with it will have even worse economic and sociopolitical consequences. How can anyone feel completely confident in their ability to raise a child in those circumstances?