The U.S. birthrate has declined for the 6th year in a row, because of changing attitudes towards having children. Pew Research Center did a survey of 3,866 women aged 18-49 and men aged 18-59 and asked them:
“Thinking about the future, how likely is it that you will have children someday?”
In 2021, only 26 percent answered “very likely”, a big drop from 32 percent in the same survey just four years ago. For those who don’t want kids, the main shift in reasons is the economy (child care, health care and education), although simply not wanting them regardless of circumstances was still the primary reason.
The current fertility rate for the U.S. is 1.69, down from 1.73 pre-pandemic – an all-time low.