Why is the fertility rate at an historic low? A class discussion

[sue_frantz]

More and more of our students are uninterested in having children. The global fertility rate (number of children per woman) has declined from almost five in 1950 to just a little more than two in 2023. In the United States, we have gone from about three children per woman in 1950 to an all-time low of 1.6. There are 11 countries (per United Nations data) with a fertility rate of one or fewer. In fact, the U.N. data show only three countries that have increased their fertility rate since 1950: Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Chad. And how much has the fertility rate increased in each of those three countries? 0.1 (Roser, 2024).

After covering child development in your Intro Psych lifespan chapter or in your Lifespan course, share the above data, and then ask your students if any of them have children. Of those who do not, ask if they plan to have children. A Pew Research poll conducted in the summer of 2023 found that of the respondents between the ages of 18 and 49, 47% reported that they were unlikely to have children (Minkin et al., 2024b).

Ask students for what reasons people ages 18 to 49 may give for why they are unlikely to have children or why they did not have children. Invite students to work in small groups to generate their list.  After discussion has died down, ask a volunteer from each group to share their list. Write each reason where the class can see it. When a group duplicates the reason of an earlier group, and a mark next to the reason.

Share with students the results of a spring 2024 Pew Research poll of 770 adults between the ages of 18 and 49 who neither have children nor intend to have children (Minkin et al., 2024b). Here were the major reasons given:

• Just don’t/didn’t want to: 57% (women: 60%; men: 50%)
• Want/wanted to focus on other things: 44%
• Concerns about the world: 38%
• Can’t/couldn’t afford raising one: 36%
• Environmental concerns: 26%
• Haven’t found/didn’t find right partner: 24%
• Don’t like children: 20%
• Negative family experiences as a child: 18% (women: 22%; men: 13%)
• Medical reasons: 13%
• Spouse doesn’t/didn’t want children: 11%

The same respondents were asked what benefits they saw in not having children. If time allows, ask students to work in small groups to identify the benefits they see. Here were the major benefits respondents identified:

• Time for hobbies/interests: 80%
• Money for things they want: 79%
• Ability to save money: 75%
• Job/career success: 61%
• Social life: 58%

Of respondents 50 years of age and older who do not have children, 26% worry about having to someone to care for them in their later years. Although of those 50 years of age and older who do have children, 20% worry about the same thing.

If you would like to turn this into a written assignment, ask students to interview friends and family members who do not have children the same questions you asked them. Encourage students to interview at least two people who are at least 10 years apart in age.

If you’d like to do a deep dive into this as an example of survey research, be sure to read the methodology section for this survey (Minkin et al., 2024a).

References

Minkin, R., Menasce Horowitz, J., & Aragão, C. (2024a, July 25). Methodology: The experience of U.S. adult who don’t have children. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/adults-without-children-methodology/

Minkin, R., Menasce Horowitz, J., & Aragão, C. (2024b, July 25). The experiences of U.S. adults who don’t have children. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-experiences-of-u-s-adults-who-dont-have-chi...

Roser, M. (2024, March 12). Fertility rate. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate