One in three Gen Zers and millennials do not have and do not want to have children, a new report shows, as birth rates in the United States continue to decline.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in April that the general fertility rate, which measures the number of live births per 1,000 women of childbearing age, had hit a “historic low.”
Many public figures have expressed concern about falling birth rates, including the billionaire Elon Musk, who wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”
Now, polling done by the Independent Center, in association with Newsweek, showed that 30 percent of Gen Zers (people born between 1997 and 2012) and millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) did not have nor want any children.
Comparatively, 62 percent said they had or wanted to have children, while 9 percent said they were unsure.
The Independent Center, which advocates for “centrist independent voters,” questioned 1,200 likely voters younger than 45 years old between October 18 and 22. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.
The report, which looked at whether the “American dream is just a dream” for young people, also found that 23 percent of those surveyed said they believed having children was irresponsible because of climate change. Conversely, 60 percent said the opposite, and 17 percent said they were unsure.
These figures did not surprise Amy Blackstone, a sociology professor from the University of Maine and the author of Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence.
She told Newsweek: “Millennials have been telling us for years that they are concerned about the impact of humans on our climate, particularly in Western nations where our carbon footprints are grotesquely high.
“I’m also not surprised that we see a contingent who express concern about boosting the population. Though global population rates are currently still climbing, rates within the national borders of Western nations have been on the decline for years.”
Photo Illustration by Newsweek/Getty Images
Blackstone added that “many childfree people are beginning to view their status as nonparents as a part of their identity that shapes their experience in society.”
She cited the many #childfree posts on TikTok, saying the label was becoming part of identity politics with “the assertion that being childfree is a meaningful category that deserves recognition in its own right.”
Ben Carson, a former secretary of housing and urban development and the founder and chair of the American Cornerstone Institute, is among the public figures worried about the shifting attitudes toward parenthood among young people—particularly those who cite climate change as a reason to not have children.
He previously wrote for Newsweek: “Their movement is anti-human, anti-family, and anti-life—and Americans should wholeheartedly reject this ideological denigration of the nuclear family and instead cherish the beauties of family life.”
Carson continued: “As Americans, it is our duty to support families, build communities, and prepare our nation for the future by cultivating the civic values of the next generation. If we want to compete on the world stage with nations like China and India—both of which have over 1 billion people—we need to encourage family formation, strengthen communities, and develop our educational systems for our own children here at home.”
Blackstone stressed that she supported “everyone’s choice to make the decision that is best for them.”
She also referenced reproductive rights, which has been a top issue this election cycle, saying she “fears for the future families of millennials and Gen Z.”
“Will they be allowed to form the families that they choose or will our government make those decisions for them,” Blackstone said.
Reproductive rights will be on the ballots in 10 states in November, including places where abortion is now largely banned after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have offered opposing views on abortion in their bids for the White House.
Harris has put reproductive rights at the forefront of her campaign, pledging to make reproductive care a key health care priority.
Trump has said he wants abortion access to remain decided by individual states, while repeatedly taking credit for overturning Roe. During his presidency, Trump nominated three conservative justices to the Supreme Court bench who voted to quash the landmark abortion legislation in June 2022. The former president has denied that he would sign a national abortion ban if returned to the White House.
