Increasingly, people under the age of 50 who do not already have kids are saying that they are unlikely to ever have kids. According to a just-released report from the Pew Research Center, “The Experiences of U.S. Adults Who Don’t Have Children,” close to half of those adults surveyed in 2023, 47 percent, said they were unlikely to have children. That’s a big jump from just five years before, in 2018, when just 37 percent said the same thing.

Why is this happening? The Pew report addressed that, too. The 770 adults, ages 18-49, from a national sample who said that they were unlikely to have kids were given a list of possible reasons and asked whether each one was a major reason for not having children.

Were they worried about the costs? Yes, more than a third, 36 percent, said they couldn’t afford to raise a child. Were they concerned about the environment? Yes, 26 percent said that was a major factor. What about the state of the world? Yes, 38 percent said that was a major consideration. Did they want to focus on other things? That was a big one: 44 percent said that was a major reason they were unlikely to ever have children.

Many people want to find a partner before they have children. For 24 percent, not finding the right partner was a major reason they were unlikely to have kids.

Other reasons mattered, too, but to fewer people. One in five, 20 percent, said that they don’t really like kids. Nearly as many, 18 percent, said they had negative experiences with their........

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