Most Women Under 50 Who Don’t Have Kids Say It’s Because They ‘Just Don’t Want To,’ Survey Shows

A majority of childless women under 50 say they never had kids simply because they didn’t want any, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

Half of men and 64% of women said they don’t have children because they “just don’t want to”, according to the survey released Thursday. Among adults under 50 who said they are unlikely to have children, 44% said they wanted to “focus on different things,” 38% said it was because of the state of the world, 36% said they couldn’t afford it.

Childless adults under the age of 50 are twice as likely to not have children compared to those over 50, citing career interests, according to the survey.

At the same time, women over the age of 50 said they never had kids because it “just didn’t happen,” according to the survey. Among adults over 50 who don’t have kids, 38% said that there was a time they wanted children, while 32% said they never wanted children.

The U.S. fertility rate has been steadily declining, according to the survey. In 2023, the fertility rate reached a historic low, and a growing percentage of women between 25 and 44 have never had children.