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- Over half of adults in a survey said fewer people having kids would have a negative effect on the US.Fertility rates have cooled, including in the US.Requiring paid family leave, which many workers lack access to, could be beneficial.
Not everyone has a goal of becoming a parent, but Americans think a declining share of people starting families could bring some challenges to the US.
Pew Research Center found that 53% of US adults in a September survey think that fewer people having kids in the future would have a somewhat or very negative effect on the nation, more than the 47% who said so in a May 2024 survey. The share who said this would have a positive effect was unchanged, while the neutral group dropped.
The share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who saw this as a negative was higher than the share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, but both groups had an uptick from last year's results.
"These findings come amid increased attention to the pronatalist movement," Rachel Minkin, a senior researcher at Pew Research Center, wrote in the new Pew report.
The report didn't elaborate on what the potential negative effects could be on the country, but falling birth rates in the long run could put additional strain on Social Security and other retirement programs.
CDC data showed the US fertility rate has cooled way down over the past two decades, falling from 2.12 births per woman in 2007 to 1.62 in 2023. Other data showed it has also cooled in other countries.
Tax credits and more can help, but some people just want to be childfree
Pew found a much smaller share of Americans think the government needs to help boost birth rates. Almost a third in the September survey said the federal government should play some kind of role in "encouraging more people to have children," while 56% of US adults said the government shouldn't.
Many of those who said the government should play a role think they should give more tax credits, have employers give paid family leave, and give free childcare.
Paid family leave and childcare benefits aren't the norm for many US workers, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. The share of civilian workers with access to paid family leave benefits has steadily climbed over the years, but was just over a quarter, at 27%, in 2023. Only a small sliver of private industry workers had access to childcare benefits this past March, with higher shares at workplaces with more people.
One way the federal government is stepping in is through new savings accounts for kids, which were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill. The accounts are for Americans born between 2025 and the end of 2028. The federal government gives an initial $1,000, and parents and employers can also contribute.
While only 20% of US adults in the survey thought fewer people having kids in the future would be a positive for the US, some Americans don't want to raise a family. In an April to May 2024 survey from Pew, 57% of childfree 18- to 49-year-olds who are unlikely to have kids said that not wanting kids was a major reason they're unlikely to have any. Forty-four percent wanted to focus on other things, and 38% were worried about the state of the world.
People who don't want kids who have previously talked to Business Insider said they opted to be childfree because there isn't enough support given to parents, don't think it's necessary for a fulfilling life, or don't think parenting is for them.
Kaitlyn Rosati, who has solo-traveled to dozens of countries and doesn't want to have kids, said in a Business Insider essay that while she thought she would have a stable career with a family in the suburbs, she thinks in retrospect that having kids was expected of her and not something she wanted.
"While some women successfully balance it all, I'm not personally willing to swap spontaneous trips for dirty diapers," Rosati said.
Melissa Kearney, an economics professor at the University of Notre Dame, told NPR that "it's not that people don't like kids as much as they used to," but there are more options people can consider.
"They can invest in their careers, take more leisure time — it's much more socially acceptable," Kearney said.
Have you decided not to have kids or decided to delay having kids? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.
