WUNRN
USA - CHILDLESSNESS INCREASE FOR ALL
RACIAL & ETHNIC GROUPS
DOWN AMONG WOMEN WITH ADVANCED
DEGREES
Nearly
one-in-five American women ends her childbearing years without having borne a
child, compared with one-in-ten in the 1970s. While childlessness has risen for
all racial and ethnic groups, and most education levels, it has fallen over the
past decade for women with advanced degrees.
The most educated
women still are among the most likely never to have had a child. But in a
notable exception to the overall rising trend, in 2008, 24% of women ages 40-44
with a master's, doctoral or professional degree had not had children, a
decline from 31% in 1994.
By
race and ethnic group, white women are most likely not to have borne a child.
But over the past decade, childless rates have risen more rapidly for black,
Hispanic and Asian women, so the racial gap has narrowed. By marital status,
women who have never married are most likely to be childless, but their rates
have declined over the past decade, while the rate of childlessness has risen for
the so-called ever-married -- those who are married or were at one time.
Among
all women ages 40-44, the proportion that has never given birth, 18% in 2008,
has grown by 80% since 1976, when it was 10%. There were 1.9 million childless
women ages 40-44 in 2008, compared with nearly 580,000 in 1976.
This
report is based mainly on data from the June fertility supplement of the Census
Bureau's Current Population Survey. The main comparisons use combined data from
2006 and 2008 (referred to in the report as "2008") and from 1992 and
1994 (referred to as "1994"). Two years of data are combined for each
time point so as to have adequate sample size for detailed analysis. This
report uses the standard measure of childlessness at the end of childbearing
years, which is the share of women ages 40-44 who have not borne any children.1
Over
the past few decades, public attitudes toward childlessness have become more
accepting. Most adults disagree that people without children "lead empty
lives," a share that rose to 59% in 2002 from 39% in 1988, according to
the General Social Survey. In addition,
children increasingly are seen as less central to a good marriage. In a 2007
Pew Research Center survey, 41% of adults said that children are very important for
a successful marriage, a decline from 65% who said so in 1990.
As
for the impact on society, attitudes are more mixed. About half the public -- 46% in
a 2009 Pew Research Center poll -- say it makes no difference one way or the
other that a growing share of women do not ever have children. Still, a notable
share of Americans -- 38% in that 2009 survey -- say this trend is bad for
society, an increase from 29% in a 2007 Pew Research survey.
Compared
with other developed nations, childless rates in the
Why
has childlessness risen in recent decades? Scholars say that social pressure to
bear children appears to have diminished for women and that today the decision
to have a child is seen as an individual choice.2 Improved job
opportunities and contraceptive methods help create alternatives for women who
choose not to have children.
At
the same time, there has been a general trend toward delayed marriage and
childbearing, especially among highly educated women. Given that the chance of
a successful pregnancy declines with age, some women who hope to have children
never will, despite the rise in fertility treatments that facilitate pregnancy.
About
10% of women ages 15-44 are not able to get pregnant after a year of trying
(six months if ages 35 and older), according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Among older women, ages 40-44, there are
equal numbers of women who are childless by choice and those who would like
children but cannot have them, according to an analysis of data from the
National Survey of Family Growth.3 In 2002, among women ages 40-44,
6% were deemed voluntarily childless, 6% involuntarily childless and 2%
childless but hoping to have children in the future.
Some
women who do not bear their own children raise children as adoptive mothers or
stepmothers. According to the 2008 American Community Survey, there are 61.6
million biological children in
Childlessness is most
common among highly educated women. In 2008, 24% of women ages 40-44 with a
bachelor's degree had not had a child. Rates were similar for women with a
master's degree (25%) and those with a doctorate or a professional degree, such
as a medical or legal degree (23%).
Among
women with some college but no degree, 18% were childless in 2008, compared
with 17% for high school graduates and 15% of women without a high school
diploma.
Since the 1990s, rates of childlessness have risen most sharply for the least
educated women. The most dramatic change has occurred among women with less
than a high school diploma, whose likelihood of bearing no children rose 66%
from 1994 to 2008. Rates rose less steeply over the same time period among high
school graduates and women with some college but not a degree.
Among
women ages 40-44 with a bachelor's degree, there has been essentially no change
in the likelihood of being childless. But rates have declined among women with
advanced degrees -- by 17% for those with master's degrees and 32% for those
with doctorates or professional degrees. Women with advanced degrees were more
likely in 1994 to be childless than were women with bachelor's degrees -- 34%
of women with doctorates or professional degrees were childless, as were 30% of
those with master's degrees and 23% of those with bachelor's degrees. The
decline in childlessness for the most educated women from 1994 to 2008 erased
that gap.
Among
all women ages 40-44, 9% held an advanced degree (a master's degree or higher)
in 2008.
One-in-five
(20%) white women ages 40-44 was childless in 2008, the highest rate among
racial and ethnic groups.
By
comparison, 17% of black and Hispanic women were childless in 2008, and 16% of
Asian women were childless.
Rates
of childlessness rose more for nonwhites than whites from 1994 to 2008.
During
those years, the childlessness rates for black women and for Hispanic women
grew by more than 30%. The rate for white women increased only 11%.
Among 40-44-year-old
women currently married or married at some point in the past, 13% had no
children of their own in 2008, a small increase from 11% in 1994.
The
childless rate among these women rose for whites, blacks and Hispanics, with
the largest increases among black and Hispanic women.
A
rising
share of births is to women who never married, and this is reflected in a decline
in childlessness among this group.
Among women in this group, 56% were childless
in 2008, compared with 71% in 1994. The childless rate fell for never-married
white and black women.4 Data are incomplete for Hispanic and Asian
women.
Looking
at race, ethnicity and educational attainment, patterns for whites and
Hispanics generally reflect the overall progression of higher childlessness at
each higher education level. For blacks and Asians, however, patterns are more
mixed.
Among
whites ages 40-44 in 2008, childless rates increase at each higher level of
education. The share of white women without a child is 27% for those with
advanced degrees and 25% for those with bachelor's degrees, which are similar
rates. Among Hispanic women, each higher level of education is accompanied by a
higher level of childlessness; 24% of college graduates had not had a child,
compared with 13% of women without a high school diploma.
Among
comparably aged black women, there is relatively little variation in 2008 rates
of childlessness across educational levels. The lowest rate was for women with
a high school diploma (16%), and the highest rate was for women with a
bachelor's degree (20%).5 Among Asian women, the lowest levels of
childlessness are found among college graduates (13%).
An
analysis of marital status and educational attainment finds a general increase
in childlessness for both married and unmarried women as education levels rise.
In 2008, there is wider variation in childlessness among the never-married.
Childlessness among the never-married ranges from 40% (for those with less than
a high school diploma) to 85% (for those with an advanced degree). Among the
ever-married, childlessness ranges from 9% (for women with less than a high
school diploma) to 16% (for those with an advanced degree).
In
addition, there are differences in trends over time. From 1994 to 2008,
childlessness grew sharply among 40-44-year-old married women with less than a
high school education or a high school diploma. The rate grew somewhat for married
women with some college education and barely changed for married women with a
college degree. The rate of childlessness fell by a fifth among married women
with advanced degrees.
Among
40-44-year-old unmarried women, childlessness increased for those without a
high school diploma. It declined for all other levels of educational
attainment, falling most for women with a high school diploma but no further
education.
From
1994 to 2008, the childlessness rate for never-married women with advanced
degrees declined by less (11%) than did the childlessness rate for ever-married
women with advanced degrees (20%). The rate remains quite high for
never-married women with advanced degrees, 85% of whom have not borne children,
compared with 16% of ever-married women with advanced degrees.
There are dramatic
differences by marital status between women ages 40-44 who have borne children
and those who have not, and some differences by race and educational
attainment.
Among
childless women in 2008, 60% were currently married or had been at some point;
among women who had borne children, 93% had ever been married. That means that
40% of childless women have never been married, compared with only 7% of women
who had borne children.
Childless women tend
to be somewhat more educated than women who have borne children. Childless
women are more likely to hold an advanced degree (13% vs. 9%) and a college
degree (26% vs. 20%). Women with at least one child are about as likely to have
some college education (30%) as childless women (28%).
Women
who have borne children are more likely to be high school graduates (30%) than
childless women (26%). Women with at least one child also are more likely than
childless women not to have completed high school (11% vs. 8%).
More than
seven-in-ten (71%) childless women aged 40-44 are white, a slightly higher
share than the 66% of women who have borne children who are white. Childless
women are less likely to be Hispanic or Asian than their counterparts who have
borne children.
Blacks
represent 14% of women with children and 12% of childless women. Hispanics are
14% of women who have borne children and 12% of childless women. Asians are 6%
of women who have borne children and 5% of childless women.
1. A small number of births (7,666 out of 4,251,095 in
2008, according to the
2.
3. Abma, Joyce C., and Gladys M. Martinez. “Childlessness Among Older Women in
the United States: Trends and Profiles.” Journal of Marriage and Family, 68:4.
(2006).
4. Sample sizes for Hispanic and Asian women are too small for meaningful
analysis.
5. For black, Hispanic and Asian women with advanced degrees, and Asian women
with less than a high school diploma, sample size is too small for meaningful
analysis.