A growing number of young adults say they are unlikely to have children, 'just don't want' them

A growing number of younger adults in the U.S. say they are unlikely to have kids, surveys show, with the primary reason being they "just don't want to."

That's according to the Pew Research Center, which found the share of adults under 50 who say they are "unlikely to ever have kids" climbed 10 percentage points between 2018 and 2023. A new report by Pew published last week looked at the reasons why childless adults from all age groups said they didn't or would likely never have children.

"The top response (39%) for those ages 50 and older is that it just didn’t happen," the survey conducted in April to May of 2024 says. "Meanwhile, those in the younger group are most likely to say they just don’t want to have kids (57%) ." 

Wanting to focus on careers or interests was the second most popular reason the younger group gave for not having kids, while the older group's next most popular reason was not finding the right partner.

Author and cultural commentator Bethany Mandel said the poll shows how younger Americans have shifted their priorities away from starting a family in our "increasingly materialistic" culture.

A Pew Research Center survey found a 10-point jump in the share of adults under 50 without kids who said they were unlikely to ever have them, from 2018 to 2023. (iStock)

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"They want the career. They want the cash. But then they realize too late, 'Oh, that didn't actually make me happy. That is not filling my cup,'" Mandel told Fox News Digital. "I think that's rooted in a lack of honest conversations about what makes life worth living because we've become an increasingly materialistic society."

Mandel, a mom of six, said that raising kids and living in the suburbs is mocked as dull and boring by some liberal voices in society, but record-high depression rates and spikes in antidepressant use in this country would suggest the culture's opposition to traditional values hasn't always led to happiness.

"It's not happening in a vacuum," she said.

Not everyone feels the same way. On TikTok and Instagram, young couples who are childless by choice have flaunted their child-free lifestyles in viral videos on the social media platforms to argue that having kids isn't the only way to find happiness.

"DINKS," or couples with dual-incomes and no kids, have received mixed reactions flaunting their child-free lifestyles on social media. (iStock)

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"I just think that the older generation isn't warmed up to the fact that you don't have to have kids to live a meaningful life," John Eringman previously told Fox News Digital. "It's just really important to make sure you find meaning in community and family and all that. But kids are not the end-all, be-all." 

Eringman, earned his massive following of 1.3 million followers on TikTok in part by giving financial advice to fellow "DINKS," or couples with dual-incomes and no kids. The 27-year-old lives in Cincinnati with his fiancée Paige. The pair is one of many DINK couples recently posting about the joys of child-free life on the social media platform TikTok.

Some younger adults also see having kids as too costly in the current climate or worry about their children's future. The April Pew survey found that concerns about the state of the world, financial burdens, and environmental concerns were also major reasons why adults under 50 didn't see themselves ever having children. Infertility and having a spouse who didn't want kids were at the bottom of the list.

The experiences of "childless adults" has been hotly defended in the media after old comments from GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance resurfaced last week. In a 2021 interview, he accused "childless cat ladies" in the Democratic Party of attacking family values.

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U.S. Sen. JD Vance and his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance look on as he is nominated for the office of Vice President on the first day of the Republican National Convention.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Vance has said that his comments were taken out-of-context by the left and that he wasn't commenting on all childless Americans, but was critiquing the "increasingly anti-parent and anti-child attitude of the left."

Mandel weighed in on the media's reaction as well, telling Fox News Digital that she thinks there's been "manufactured outrage" over Vance's remarks.

"I think a lot of it is nonsense, manufactured outrage," she said. "Ultimately the comments are a judgment call. But if you feel secure in your decision [to not have children] you would not feel so personally offended."

"So the level of anger that you're seeing among elites at his comments, to me indicates that there is a level of — regret over decisions," she continued.

"Were they good comments to make? Obviously not. Were they too flippant? Yes….  But I think the majority of what he's actually said about family and childlessness [in other remarks] is actually very spot on," she said.

Fox News' Teny Sahakian contributed to this report.