View source for Social:Voluntary childlessness

{{short description|Lifelong voluntary choice to not have children}}
'''Voluntary childlessness''', '''childfreeness''', or being '''childfree''',<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00355-021-01379-y | doi=10.1007/s00355-021-01379-y | title=Childlessness, childfreeness and compensation | date=2022 | last1=Leroux | first1=Marie-Louise | last2=Pestieau | first2=Pierre | last3=Ponthiere | first3=Gregory | journal=Social Choice and Welfare | volume=59 | pages=1–35 | hdl=2268/266029 | s2cid=210146775 | hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Engwall2014" /> describes the voluntary choice [[Biology:Childlessness|not to have children]].

In most societies and for most of human history, choosing not to have children was both difficult and undesirable (except for celibate individuals). The availability of reliable contraception along with support provided in old age by one's government or by one's savings rather than one's [[Social:Family|family]] has made [[Biology:Childlessness|childlessness]] an option for some people, though they may be looked down upon in certain communities.

The word ''childfree'' first appeared sometime before 1901.<ref>Child-free. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.</ref> It entered common usage among feminism during the 1970s,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Savage |first=Maddy |date=February 14, 2023 |title=The adults celebrating child-free lives |work=BBC Future |url=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230208-the-adults-celebrating-child-free-lives |access-date=June 30, 2023}}</ref><ref name="PsychToday">{{Cite web|last=Walker|first=Ellen|date=January 19, 2014|title=Childfree Trend on the Rise: Four Reasons Why! |work=Psychology Today|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/complete-without-kids/201401/childfree-trend-the-rise-four-reasons-why|access-date=July 31, 2022}}</ref> The suffix -''free'' denotes the freedom and personal choice of those to pick this lifestyle. The meaning of the term ''childfree'' extends to encompass the children of others (in addition to one's own children), and this distinguishes it further from the more usual term "childless", which is traditionally used to express the idea of having no children, whether by choice or by circumstance.<ref>The obsolete term "childerless", meaning "without children" is given, for example in {{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1971|page=343|isbn=9780717285006|lccn= 76-188038}}</ref> The term ''child-free'' has been cited in Australian literature to refer to parents who are without children at the current time. This may be due to them living elsewhere on a permanent basis or a short-term solution such as childcare.<ref>Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2011{{Incomplete short citation|date=June 2023}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=June 2023}}

==Reasons cited for being voluntarily childless==
Supporters of this lifestyle cite various reasons for their view.<ref name="GlobeMaier">{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/mothers-day/i-really-regret-it-i-really-regret-having-children/article1200668/|title=I really regret it. I really regret having children|last=Saunders|first=Doug|date=2007-09-29|work=The Globe and Mail|location=Toronto|access-date=2019-01-14|archive-date=2018-10-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021161901/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/mothers-day/i-really-regret-it-i-really-regret-having-children/article1200668/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Aukema">{{Cite news|url=https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/hoezo-heb-jij-geen-kinderen~b849be81/|title=Hoezo heb jij geen kinderen?|author=Saskia Aukema|work=Trouw|date=13 November 2016|access-date=30 May 2020|language=nl|archive-date=22 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922143326/https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/hoezo-heb-jij-geen-kinderen~b849be81/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Stegeman">{{Cite news|url=https://www.quest.nl/mens/psychologie/a32449231/waarom-wel-geen-kinderwens/|title=Waarom hebben zoveel mensen een kinderwens?|trans-title=Why do so many people have a desire to have children?|first=Lotte |last=Stegeman|work=Quest|date=14 May 2020|access-date=30 May 2020|language=nl|archive-date=27 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527070900/https://www.quest.nl/mens/psychologie/a32449231/waarom-wel-geen-kinderwens/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="van de Water">{{Cite news|url=https://www.quest.nl/mens/lifestyle/a31780117/kinderwens-westerse-wereld-verdwenen/|title=Zijn er nu meer mensen die geen kinderen willen dan vroeger?|author=Sebastiaan van de Water|work=Quest|date=20 March 2020|access-date=30 May 2020|language=nl|archive-date=29 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529232324/https://www.quest.nl/mens/lifestyle/a31780117/kinderwens-westerse-wereld-verdwenen/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Leenaert">{{Cite news|url=https://www.mo.be/column/kindvrij|title=Kindvrij vs kinderloos|author=Tobias Leenaert|work=Mondiaal Nieuws|date=2 September 2015|access-date=30 May 2020|language=nl|archive-date=1 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101101207/http://www.mo.be/column/kindvrij|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Bodin">{{Cite journal|last1=Bodin|first1=Maja|last2=Plantin|first2=Lars|last3=Elmerstig|first3=Eva|date=December 2019|title=A wonderful experience or a frightening commitment? An exploration of men's reasons to (not) have children|journal=Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online|volume=9|pages=19–27|doi=10.1016/j.rbms.2019.11.002|pmc=6953767|pmid=31938736}}</ref> These reasons can be personal, social, philosophical, moral, economic, or a complex, nuanced combination of such reasons.

===Psychosocial and personal===
[[File:Jogging with dog at Carcavelos Beach.jpg|thumb|Woman jogging with a dog at Carcavelos beach, Portugal. Some people prefer pets to children. Many single childfree women are quite happy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oppenheim |first=Mayha |date=May 29, 2019 |title=Unmarried, childless women are happiest people of all, says expert |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-happy-children-spouse-partner-relationship-unmarried-a8931816.html |access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref>]]
*Reluctance to replicate the genes of one's own parents in cases of child abuse.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Matthews |first1=Elise J. |last2=Desjardins |first2=Michel |date=1 November 2020 |title=The Meaning of Risk in Reproductive Decisions after Childhood Abuse and Neglect |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-019-00062-2 |journal=Journal of Family Violence |language=en |volume=35 |issue=8 |pages=793–802 |doi=10.1007/s10896-019-00062-2 |issn=1573-2851 |s2cid=149446087 |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Italie |first=Leanne |date=August 30, 2022 |title=Gen Z, millennials take a pass on raising the next generation |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2022/0830/Gen-Z-millennials-take-a-pass-on-raising-the-next-generation |access-date=May 4, 2023}}</ref>
*Parents can become less empathetic towards non-family members.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/11/having-kids-can-make-parents-less-empathetic/416592/ Having Kids Can Make Parents Less Empathetic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930110056/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/11/having-kids-can-make-parents-less-empathetic/416592/|date=2020-09-30}}. ''The Atlantic''. November 18, 2015.</ref>
* Preference of pursuing personal development to raising children<ref name="Bodin" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Patel |first=Arti |date=December 10, 2017 |title=People who don't want kids: 'There's never been a day where I've regretted my decision' |work=CBC |department=Lifestyle |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/3900117/people-choose-no-kids/ |access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
* Lack of desire to perpetuate one's family line or pass on one's genes.<ref name="van de Water" /><ref name="Stegeman" /><ref name="Leenaert" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last=Tucker |first=Eleanor |date=November 8, 2014 |title=I used to judge childfree women |work=The Guardian |department=Family |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/08/i-used-to-judge-childfree-women |access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
* Unwillingness to sacrifice freedom and independence to rearing children.<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="van de Water" /><ref name="Leenaert" /><ref name="Bodin" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite news |last=Friedman |first=Danielle |date=July 14, 2017 |title=Why Some Women Don't Want Kids, Childless by Choice |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-some-women-dont-want-kids-childless-by-choice |url-status=live |access-date=March 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216055903/https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-some-women-dont-want-kids-childless-by-choice |archive-date=December 16, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":19" />
* Preference of having a pet over a child.<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Leggate |first=James |date=November 6, 2020 |title=More pets than children in Taiwan as birthrate drops, report indicates |work=Fox News |department=Lifestyle |url=https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/more-pets-than-children-taiwan-birthrate-drops.amp |access-date=March 7, 2021}}</ref><ref name=":25">{{Cite news |last1=Choi |first1=Hayoung |last2=Park |first2=Minwoo |date=January 24, 2019 |title=Like a son but cheaper: harried South Koreans pamper pets instead of having kids |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-economy-pets/like-a-son-but-cheaper-harried-south-koreans-pamper-pets-instead-of-having-kids-idUSKCN1PI029 |access-date=April 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190131061614/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-economy-pets/like-a-son-but-cheaper-harried-south-koreans-pamper-pets-instead-of-having-kids-idUSKCN1PI029 |archive-date=January 31, 2019}}</ref>
* Celibacy or a fear and/or revulsion towards sexual activity and intimacy or being an asexual
* Various fears for oneself or child<ref name="Aukema" />
** fear of a long-term stressful responsibility and performance anxiety<ref name="Bodin" />
** fear of not being able to love one's child<ref name="Aukema" />
** fear that one will give birth to a disabled child and taking care of whom is challenging<ref name="Aukema" />
** [[Medicine:Fear of children|fear and/or revulsion towards children]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Medical Definition of Fear of children |url=https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12359 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911091330/http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12359 |archive-date=2017-09-11 |access-date=2020-08-27 |website=Medicinenet}}</ref>
* Perceived or actual incapacity to be a responsible and patient parent<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="van de Water" /><ref name="CBS 2004">{{Cite web |author=Arie de Graaf |date=24 May 2004 |title=Childlessness and education level |url=https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2004/22/childlessness-and-education-level |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612135130/https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2004/22/childlessness-and-education-level |archive-date=12 June 2020 |access-date=31 May 2020 |publisher=Statistics Netherlands |language=nl}}</ref><ref name="Bodin" />
* The view that spending time with one's nephews, nieces or stepchildren is sufficient for one's own happiness<ref name="Bodin" /> or otherwise already providing childcare as part of an extended family or godparent.<ref name="Buonadonna" /><ref name=":17">{{Cite magazine |last=Zacharek |first=Stephanie |date=January 3, 2019 |title=Why I Have Zero Regrets About My Childless Life |url=https://time.com/5492622/stephanie-zacharek-childless-life/ |url-status=live |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211015631/https://time.com/5492622/stephanie-zacharek-childless-life/ |archive-date=December 11, 2020 |access-date=March 25, 2021}}</ref>  Or situations where one's partner already has children from a previous relationship and one does not have a need or justification to bear or parent additional children.<ref name="Aukema" />
* The view that one's friendships and relationships with adults are sufficient for one's own happiness<ref name="Aukema" />
* Possible deterioration of interpersonal relationships.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":18">{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Kellie |date=December 16, 2020 |title=Undecided about having kids? Reading this might help |work=ABC (Australia) |url=https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/stories-for-those-undecided-about-having-kids/12506732 |access-date=March 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-hidden-cost-of-motherhood-20180415-p4z9sk.html The Hidden Cost of Motherhood] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103061406/https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-hidden-cost-of-motherhood-20180415-p4z9sk.html|date=2018-11-03}}. ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. April 16th, 2018.</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite news |title=Emma Gannon: I'm made to feel guilty for not having children |work=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3fr3mLYZGl4YPdPDQrvGNjK/emma-gannon-i-m-made-to-feel-guilty-for-not-having-children |access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
* Dislike of (young) children's behavior, language, and/or biological processes.<ref name="GlobeMaier" /><ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="van de Water" /><ref name="Leenaert" /><ref name="Bodin" />
*Uncertainty over the stability of the parenting relationship, and the damage to relationships or difficulties with them getting children may cause.<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Stegeman" /><ref name="Bodin" /><ref name=":5" />
** Partner does not want children.<ref name="CBS 2004" />
** Fear that sexual activity may decline.<ref name="GlobeMaier" /><ref name="harvey">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44g2l17a70cC&pg=PA12 |title=na |isbn=9780549512509 |access-date=4 April 2018 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
** A long-term relationship or marriage might be in danger due to the stress created by children.<ref name="GlobeMaier" /><ref name=":29">{{Cite news |last=Wallace |first=Kelly |date=December 6, 2016 |title=Are people without kids happier? Studies offer mixed picture |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/06/health/parents-happiness-child-free-studies/index.html |access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":5" />
* Drop in the level of happiness after having a baby, though the level depends on a variety of factors,<ref name=":29" /> including sex, age, and nationality<ref name=":27">{{Cite news |last=Bloom |first=Paul |date=November 2, 2021 |title=What Becoming a Parent Really Does to Your Happiness |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/11/does-having-kids-make-you-happy/620576/ |access-date=May 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220719171104/https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/11/does-having-kids-make-you-happy/620576/ |archive-date=July 19, 2022}}</ref>
* Gap in happiness between parents and the childfree in favour of the latter, even in places with generous social welfare programs<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Glass |first1=Jennifer |last2=Simon |first2=Robin W. |last3=Andersson |first3=Matthew A. |date=May 1, 2017 |title=Parenthood and Happiness: Effects of Work-Family Reconciliation Policies in 22 OECD Countries |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=122 |issue=3 |pages=886–929 |doi=10.1086/688892 |pmc=5222535 |pmid=28082749}}</ref>
* The view that the wish to reproduce oneself is a form of [[Philosophy:Narcissism|narcissism]]<ref name="van de Water" />

===Cultural and demographic===
[[File:VictorianPostcard.jpg|thumb|Early twentieth-century postcard of a woman fighting a stork bringing her a child. As women's opportunities increase, they are less interested in having children.]]
* Lack of a suitable partner or difficulty getting married.<ref name=":65">{{Cite news|last=Gan|first=Nectar|date=January 30, 2021|title=Chinese millennials aren't getting married, and the government is worried|work=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/29/china/china-millennials-marriage-intl-hnk/index.html|access-date=February 1, 2021}}</ref>
**These trends are important in countries where having children out of wedlock is highly unusual.<ref name=":65" />
* Disapproval of perfectionist attitudes towards child-rearing in modern societies<ref name="GlobeMaier" />
** As a society becomes better developed, it is generally true that expectations of parental investment per child goes up, depressing fertility rates.<ref>{{Cite news|last=University College London|date=February 17, 2008|title=Increased Life Expectancy May Mean Lower Fertility|work=Science Daily|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215210722.htm|access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
* Dislike of dedicated parents.<ref name="GlobeMaier" />  In North American English, the (pejorative) term for this is '[[Social:Soccer mom|soccer mom]]s'.<ref name="GlobeMaier" />
* Changing cultural attitude towards children (known as the [[Finance:Demographic transition#Second demographic transition|second demographic transition]])<ref name=":2" />
** A result of women's liberation, education, and rising workforce participation<ref name=":2" />
*** Women no longer need to marry and bear children in order to be economically secure<ref name=":65" />
** Transition from traditional and communal values towards expressive individualism<ref name=":232">{{Cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Eric |title=Whither the Child? Causes and Consequences of Low Fertility |publisher=Paradigm Publishers |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-61205-093-5 |editor-last=Kaufmann |editor-first=Eric |location=Boulder, Colorado, United States |pages=135–56 |chapter=Chapter 7: Sacralization by Stealth? The Religious Consequences of Low Fertility in Europe |editor-last2=Wilcox |editor-first2=W. Bradford}}</ref>
*** In the West, adherents of the countercultural or feminist movements in the 1960s and 1970s typically had no children<ref>{{Cite web |last=Longman |first=Phillip |date=October 20, 2009 |title=The Return of Patriarchy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/20/the-return-of-patriarchy/ |access-date=November 1, 2020 |website=Foreign Policy}}</ref>
** Growing awareness that childbearing is a choice<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Sandra Caine |date=July 23, 2018 |title=They Didn't Have Children and, Most Said, They Don't Have Regrets |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/reader-center/no-kids-no-regrets.html |access-date=May 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181014143444/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/reader-center/no-kids-no-regrets.html |archive-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
** Declining support for traditional gender roles,<ref name=":5" /> and that people need to have children in order to be complete<ref name=":5" /> or successful<ref name="Stegeman" />
* Disapproval of the treatment and expectations of men and women<ref name=":65" /><ref name=":26" />
* Unwillingness to burden one's children with such care, or preventing a situation in which one's premature death will orphan one's children (at too young an age), or cause them too much sorrow at one's deathbed<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Stegeman" />

===Medical===
* Preventing long-term disruption of [[Biology:Sleep|sleep]].<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="van de Water" /><ref name="Stegeman" />
* Availability of effective contraception, birth control, or sterilization, which makes the choice to remain voluntarily childless easier <ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Stegeman" /><ref name="van de Water" /><ref name="Buonadonna" /><ref name=":21">{{Cite news |last=Fleming |first=Amy |date=June 20, 2018 |title=Would you give up having children to save the planet? Meet the couples who have |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/20/give-up-having-children-couples-save-planet-climate-crisis |access-date=March 25, 2021}}</ref>
* Concerns over the effects and possible complications pregnancy has on the woman's body<ref name=":15">{{Cite news |last=Layhe |first=Ellie |date=September 13, 2018 |title=Pregnancy phobia is being 'driven by social media' |work=BBC Radio |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/3cc78638-171e-4542-806e-8f9d0c1ad243 |access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref> (weight gain, stretch marks, drooping breasts, hyperpigmentation on the face, looser pelvic muscles leading to reduced sexual pleasure for both the woman and her partner, hemorrhoids, urinary incontinence,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Altman |first1=Daniel |last2=Ekström |first2=Åsa |last3=Gustafsson |first3=Catharina |last4=López |first4=Annika |last5=Falconer |first5=Christian |last6=Zetterström |first6=Jan |year=2006 |title=Risk of Urinary Incontinence After Childbirth |journal=Obstetrics & Gynecology |volume=108 |issue=4 |pages=873–878 |doi=10.1097/01.AOG.0000233172.96153.ad |pmid=17012448 |s2cid=23797296}}</ref> death,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Christian |first1=Parul |last2=Katz |first2=Joanne |last3=Wu |first3=Lee |last4=Kimbrough-Pradhan |first4=Elizabeth |last5=Khatry |first5=Subarna K. |last6=Leclerq |first6=Steven C. |last7=West |first7=Keith P. |year=2008 |title=Risk factors for pregnancy-related mortality: A prospective study in rural Nepal |journal=Public Health |volume=122 |issue=2 |pages=161–172 |doi=10.1016/j.puhe.2007.06.003 |pmc=2367232 |pmid=17826810}}</ref> among others)
* Pregnancy and childbirth can bring about undesirable changes:
** Substantial neurobiological changes leading to [[Medicine:Postpartum depression|postpartum depression]], and feelings of insecurity and inadequacy, among other things.<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/07/17/pregnant-women-care-ignores-one-most-profound-changes-new-mom-faces/CF5wyP0b5EGCcZ8fzLUWbP/story.html Motherhood brings the most dramatic brain changes of a woman’s life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011225015/https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/07/17/pregnant-women-care-ignores-one-most-profound-changes-new-mom-faces/CF5wyP0b5EGCcZ8fzLUWbP/story.html|date=2020-10-11}}. ''Boston Globe''. July 17th, 2018.</ref> Men can also suffer from postpartum depression.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/09/new-fathers-suffer-similar-rates-of-depression-as-mothers-experts-warn Postnatal Depression: Fathers Can Suffer Similar Issues to Women, Say Experts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028003438/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/09/new-fathers-suffer-similar-rates-of-depression-as-mothers-experts-warn|date=2020-10-28}}. ''The Guardian''. August 9, 2018.</ref>
** Lasting effects on women's health. In particular, research suggests a causal link between gravidity and accelerated cellular aging, because energy is diverted from somatic maintenance to reproductive efforts.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/s41598-018-29486-4 | title=Reproduction predicts shorter telomeres and epigenetic age acceleration among young adult women | year=2018 | last1=Ryan | first1=Calen P. | last2=Hayes | first2=M. Geoffrey | last3=Lee | first3=Nanette R. | last4=McDade | first4=Thomas W. | last5=Jones | first5=Meaghan J. | last6=Kobor | first6=Michael S. | last7=Kuzawa | first7=Christopher W. | last8=Eisenberg | first8=Dan T. A. | journal=Scientific Reports | volume=8 | issue=1 | page=11100 | pmid=30038336 | pmc=6056536 | bibcode=2018NatSR...811100R }}</ref>
* The health of one's partner does not allow for children<ref name="CBS 2004" />
* Personal well-being,<ref>{{cite web|title=Having children is not the formula for a happy life — Quartz|url=https://qz.com/281513/having-children-is-not-the-formula-for-a-happy-life/|access-date=4 April 2018|website=qz.com|date=23 October 2014 |archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701065416/https://qz.com/281513/having-children-is-not-the-formula-for-a-happy-life/|url-status=live}}</ref> health and happiness<ref name=":10">{{Cite news|last=Cain|first=Sian|date=May 29, 2019|title=Women are happier without children or a spouse, says happiness expert|work=The Guardian|department=The Observer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-happier-without-children-or-a-spouse-happiness-expert|access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
* One's health does not allow for children,<ref name="CBS 2004" /> who are [[Biology:Disease vector|vector]] of infectious diseases.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Godoy |first=Maria |date=January 26, 2023 |title=Your kids are adorable germ vectors. Here's how often they get your household sick |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/01/26/1151333478/your-kids-are-adorable-germ-vectors-heres-how-often-they-get-your-household-sick |access-date=April 21, 2023}}</ref>
* Existing or possible health problems, including genetic disorders that one does not want potential children to inherit<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Bodin" /><ref name="Engwall2014">{{Cite journal |last=Engwall |first=Kristina |date=May 4, 2014 |title=Childfreeness, parenthood and adulthood |journal=Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research |language=en |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=333–347 |doi=10.1080/15017419.2013.781955 |s2cid=144352218 |issn=1745-3011|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Brownell2020">{{Cite web |last=Brownell |first=Kristen |date=July 6, 2020 |title=Why I don't have a child: I refuse to pass on my addiction genes |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/06/why-i-dont-have-a-child-i-refuse-to-pass-on-my-addiction-gene |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727203654/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/06/why-i-dont-have-a-child-i-refuse-to-pass-on-my-addiction-gene |archive-date=2022-07-27 |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> and mental health issues<ref name=":18" />
* Not feeling the 'biological clock' ticking<ref name="Time20130812" /> and having no maternal or paternal instincts or drives<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":19" />
* Fear and/or revulsion towards the physical condition of pregnancy ([[Medicine:Tokophobia|tokophobia]]),<ref name=":15" /> the childbirth experience,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hofberg|last2=Brockington|year=2000|title=Tokophobia: an unreasoning dread of childbirth|journal=British Journal of Psychiatry|volume=176|pages=83–85|doi=10.1192/bjp.176.1.83|pmid=10789333|doi-access=free}}</ref> and recovery (for example the erosion of physical desirability){{Citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Probably true, but it needs a source}}
* One is too old<ref name="Bodin" /><ref name=":19" /> or too young to have children<ref name="Bodin" />

===Economic===
[[File:Minneapolis Old Age Home - Anna and Axel 20 September 1970.jpg|thumb|Modern welfare programs negate the need for children, some argue.|250x250px]]
* Rejection of the claim that the country's economy is at risk if some people do not procreate<ref name="Leenaert" />
* Belief that very few parents actually have children in order to support the country's economy<ref name="Leenaert" />
* Lack of support for working women<ref name=":26">{{Cite news |last=Moses |first=Claire |date=February 19, 2023 |title=Aging Societies |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/briefing/asia-aging-popupulation.html |access-date=May 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230320202804/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/briefing/asia-aging-popupulation.html |archive-date=March 20, 2023}}</ref>
*Burden of taxes and debt<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Perry|first=Sarah|date=July 8, 2014|title=Children aren't worth very much - that's why we no longer make many|work=Quartz|url=https://qz.com/231313/children-arent-worth-very-much-thats-why-we-no-longer-make-many/|url-status=dead|access-date=March 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226160139/https://qz.com/231313/children-arent-worth-very-much-thats-why-we-no-longer-make-many/|archive-date=February 26, 2021}}</ref>
**Some use the term "wage slaves" when referring to having to pay taxes to support welfare programs such as pensions.<ref name="VHEMT" />
**Student debts, a serious problem among Millennials and Generation Z in the U.S., discourage many from having children.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leanne |first=Italie |date=August 30, 2022 |title=Gen Z, millennials speak out on reluctance to become parents |work=Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-millennials-fcaa60313baf717312c6e68f12eb53ff |access-date=August 30, 2022}}</ref>
*Stagnant or falling wages<ref name=":2" /> at the same time as high cost of living<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|last=Cain|first=Sian|date=July 25, 2020|title=Why a generation is choosing to be child-free|work=The Guardian|department=Books|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/25/why-a-generation-is-choosing-to-be-child-free|access-date=March 9, 2021}}</ref>
*Rising [[Social:Cost of raising a child|cost of raising a child]] as a society industrializes and urbanizes<ref name=":2" />
**In an agrarian society, children are a source of labour and thus income for the family. But as it shifts towards industries other than agriculture and as more people relocate to the cities, children become a net sink of parental resources. This is known as the (first) [[Finance:Demographic transition|demographic transition]].<ref name=":2" />
**"When we advise clients about having children, we honestly don’t even give them the full real details and the real numbers, It’s one of those things if you see the math of it all, it might make you decide to not have children." Shannon McLay, founder of The Financial Gym, told CNBC.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Juhohn |date=December 21, 2023 |title=More couples are choosing a 'dual income, no kids' lifestyle. Here's how that changes their finances |work=CNBC |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/21/what-dink-dual-income-no-kids-trend-means-for-your-money.html |access-date=December 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231222012532/https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/21/what-dink-dual-income-no-kids-trend-means-for-your-money.html |archive-date=December 22, 2023}}</ref>
*Being busy with work<ref name=":14">{{Cite news|last1=Trung|first1=Son|last2=Nguyen|first2=Quy|date=January 7, 2020|title=Overworked Saigon women have no time to have babies|work=VN Express|url=https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/overworked-saigon-women-have-no-time-to-have-babies-4038257.html|access-date=March 17, 2020}}</ref>
*Loss of income and savings<ref name=":28">{{Cite news |last=Filipovic |first=Jill |date=June 27, 2021 |title=Women Are Having Fewer Babies Because They Have More Choices |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/opinion/falling-birthrate-women-babies.html |access-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210628024344/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/opinion/falling-birthrate-women-babies.html |archive-date=June 28, 2021}}</ref><ref name=":22" />
*Possibility of early retirement<ref name=":24">{{Cite news |last=Ermey |first=Ryan |date=October 25, 2022 |title=If you're not planning to have kids, you can rethink 'the whole foundation' of your financial plan |work=CNBC |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/25/childfree-people-can-rethink-whole-foundation-of-their-money-plan.html |access-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>
* Unwillingness to pay the cost of raising a child.<ref name="Bodin" /><ref name="CBS 2004" /> For example, according to Statistics Netherlands and the National Institute for Budgetary Information (Nibud), raising a child cost an average of €120,000 from birth to age 18, or about 17% of one's disposable income as of 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Kaj van Arkel|date=26 October 2017|title=Wat kost een kind?|language=nl|work=Algemeen Dagblad|url=https://www.ad.nl/economie/wat-kost-een-kind~af265e5c/|access-date=30 May 2020|archive-date=12 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012171026/https://www.ad.nl/economie/wat-kost-een-kind~af265e5c/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=28 May 2019|title=Hoeveel kost een kind tot zijn achttiende?|language=nl|work=Quest|url=https://www.quest.nl/maatschappij/cultuur/a25777504/kosten-kind-tot-achttiende/|access-date=30 May 2020|archive-date=30 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530021809/https://www.quest.nl/maatschappij/cultuur/a25777504/kosten-kind-tot-achttiende/|url-status=live}}</ref>
** Inability to pay the cost of raising a child<ref name="Bodin" />
** Hard to arrange, or pay for, child care<ref name="CBS 2004" /><ref name=":14" />
** Parental leaves are non-existent or too short<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":14" />
** Expensive (higher) education<ref name=":2" />
** Not having a [[Peer support|support network]], especially when one is or risks becoming a single parent{{Citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Probably true, but it needs a source}}
* Living in a time of pestilence or economic recession<ref name=":4" />
* Reduction in the quality of life.<ref name=":27" />
* Hard to arrange, or pay for, child care<ref name="CBS 2004" />
* Ability to invest some of the time and money saved by not raising children to other socially meaningful purposes<ref name="Leenaert" />
*Other possibilities in life opening up due to the lack of children,<ref name=":20">{{Cite news |last=Culhane |first=John |date=May 24, 2017 |title=For Many Queer Adults, Parenting Still Isn't Part of the Picture |work=Slate |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/05/why-many-lgbtq-people-dont-want-children.html |access-date=March 25, 2021}}</ref> such as pursuing a career, retiring early, making charitable donations, having more leisure, being more active in the community, or other interests.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Segarra |first=Marielle |date=April 17, 2023 |title=So you don't want kids. How to build a child-free life |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1169740774 |access-date=April 17, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":24" /><ref name="GlobeMaier" /><ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Stegeman" /><ref name=":4" />
* No need for care by one's own children when one is old or close to dying
** One can be cared for by the modern [[Social:Welfare state|welfare state]] (including the establishment of retirement homes)<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Stegeman" />
** Having no children allows one to save more money for retirement.<ref name=":13" />
** Having children is not a guaranteed safety net for parent-child relations might be strained<ref name=":9" />
{{clear}}

===Philosophical===
[[File:Schopenhauer.jpg|thumb|[[Philosophy:Antinatalism|Antinatalists]] such as philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer argued that having children is inherently wrong because life is full of suffering.|298x298px]]
* Simply not wanting to have children.<ref name=":5" /><ref name="CBS 2004" /><ref name=":12" /> Supporters of this lifestyle argue that they [[Philosophy:Burden of proof|should not have to justify]] why they do not want children.<ref name="Stegeman" />  Any specific activity requires motivation or justification, not inaction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Franken |first=Robert |title=Human motivation |publisher=Wadsworth |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-534-55530-6 |location=Belmont, CA, United States |chapter=What Causes Behavior?}}</ref>
* Various ethical reasons
** Belief that one can make an even [[Effective altruism|greater contribution to humanity]] through one's work than through having children (for example by working for or donating to charities)<ref name="Leenaert" />
** [[Philosophy:Antinatalism|Antinatalism]], the philosophy asserting that it is inherently immoral to bring people into the world.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |last=Wolf |first=Chion |date=July 9, 2020 |title=You Didn't Ask To Be Here: Adventures In Antinatalism |work=WNPR |url=https://www.wnpr.org/post/you-didn-t-ask-be-here-adventures-antinatalism |access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
***Antinatalists argue in favor of the [[Physics:Asymmetry (population ethics)|asymmetry of pleasure and pain]]. The absence of pleasure is neutral whereas the absence of pain is positive.<ref name=":11" /> Hence, one may generally wish to spare a potential child from the suffering of life.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":11" /> This way, avoiding having a child can be thought of as a form of compassion for the unborn.<ref name=":23" />
***Moreover, the parent can never get the consent of the unborn child, therefore a decision to procreate would be an imposition of life.<ref name=":7" /> However, some childfree people explicitly reject antinatalism; they may even like the children of others, but just do not want any themselves.<ref name="Leenaert" />
**Chance that one's child may grow up to become an immoral person<ref name="Bodin" />
**Belief that it is wrong to intentionally have a child when there are so many children available for [[Social:Adoption|adoption]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Probably true, but it needs a source}}
**Belief that one can still contribute to 'the education of children to become happy and empathic beings' that a society needs (for example, by being a teacher or babysitter) without being a parent oneself<ref name="Leenaert" />
* General existential angst.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" />
**Distress over politics or the state of the world.<ref name=":23">{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Alex |date=November 20, 2021 |title=To Breed or Not to Breed? |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/style/breed-children-climate-change.html |access-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220311132849/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/style/breed-children-climate-change.html |archive-date=March 11, 2022}}</ref>
* The opinion that not having children is less selfish than having them<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite news|last=Bagchi|first=Shrabonti|date=February 15, 2019|title=Inside India's Anti-Natalist Cult|work=Live Mint|url=https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/to-be-or-not-to-be-1550221601090.html|access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
**Some argue that not having children is an unselfish act<ref name=":18" />
*Questioning of the need for the next generation and refusal to be 'slaves' to the genes<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|date=December 17, 1998|title=Sui genocide|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/1998/12/17/sui-genocide|access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref>
* Belief in a negative, declining condition of the world and culture and in [[Philosophy:Suffering-focused ethics|the need to avoid subjecting a child to those negative conditions]]<ref name="Bodin" />
**This includes concerns that calamitous events—effects of global warming, war, or famine—might be likely to occur within the lifetime of one's children and cause their suffering and/or death<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Schneider-Mayerson|first1=Matthew|last2=Leong|first2=Kit Ling|date=2020-11-17|title=Eco-reproductive concerns in the age of climate change|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-020-02923-y|journal=Climatic Change|volume=163|issue=2|pages=1007–1023|language=en|doi=10.1007/s10584-020-02923-y|bibcode=2020ClCh..163.1007S|s2cid=226983864|issn=0165-0009|access-date=2020-11-23|archive-date=2021-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118123726/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-020-02923-y|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Belief that one is not [[Social:Fear of missing out|'missing out']] on any of the alleged benefits of parenthood as long as one does not know what parenthood is like<ref name="Leenaert" />
* View that people tend to have children for the wrong reasons (e.g. fear, social pressures from cultural norms)<ref name="Leenaert" /><ref name="Time20130812" />
* Adherence to the principles of a religious organization which rejects having children<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":11" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kent|first1=S.A.|title=Scientology -- Is this a Religion?|url=http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/mjr/kent.html|journal=Marburg Journal of Religion|volume=4|issue=1|page=1999|access-date=2011-03-25|archive-date=2011-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929015240/http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/mjr/kent.html|url-status=live}}</ref> or the rejection of procreative religious beliefs imposed by one's family and/or community{{Citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Probably true, but it needs a source}}
* Belief that it is irresponsible to 'just try' what parenthood is like when one is still in doubt, as it burdens one with a responsibility to raise a child to adulthood once it's born, with no turning back when one is disappointed and regrets the decision<ref name="Leenaert" /><ref name="Buonadonna" />
* Opposition to capitalism, believed to necessitate procreation<ref name="GlobeMaier" />
*Opinion held by some radical feminists that the traditional family is "a decadent, energy-absorbing, destructive, wasteful institution"<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Garraty|first=John S.|title=The American Nation: A History of the United States|publisher=Harper Collins|year=1991|isbn=0-06-042312-9|location=United States of America|pages=903–6|chapter=Chapter XXXII Society in Flux, 1945-1980. Women's Liberation}}</ref>
*General discontent with modern society
**Perception of the lack of mutual respect, human dignity, and privacy among individuals and institutions in modern societies; loss of faith in humanity
**Perception of the inescapable, invasive use of modern technology and global surveillance; anticipation of a [[Philosophy:Dystopia#Science and technology|technological dystopian future]]
**[[Social:Social Darwinism|Social Darwinism]] and [[Social:Political polarization|political polarization]]; general [[Philosophy:Cynicism (contemporary)|cynicism]] and [[Philosophy:Existential nihilism|existential nihilism]]

===Environmental===
[[File:Wynes_Nicholas_CO2_emissions_savings.svg|thumb|250px|Reduction of one's carbon footprint for various actions]]
* Rejection of the claim that [[Unsolved:Human extinction|the survival of the entire human species is at risk]] if some people do not procreate, especially in times of human overpopulation<ref name="Ganesh">{{Cite news|author=Janan Ganesh|date=20 September 2019|title=Parenthood should be taken off its pedestal|work=[[Social:Financial Times|Financial Times]]|url=https://www.ft.com/content/08b41ed2-da00-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17|url-status=live|access-date=31 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926095543/https://www.ft.com/content/08b41ed2-da00-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17|archive-date=26 September 2020}}</ref>
**Belief that very few parents actually have children in order to prevent human extinction<ref name="Ganesh" />
* View that human existence inflicts suffering upon other species just like the way they cause harm among themselves via predatory practices<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|last=May|first=Todd|date=December 17, 2018|title=Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy?|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/opinion/human-extinction-climate-change.html|url-status=live|access-date=March 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216120616/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/opinion/human-extinction-climate-change.html|archive-date=February 16, 2021}}</ref>
* Countering [[Unsolved:Human overpopulation|human overpopulation]] and its effects by not reproducing<ref name="Aukema" /><ref name="Leenaert" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Angeloni|first=Alice|date=July 14, 2019|title=New Zealand couples concerned for planet choose childless futures|work=Stuff|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/114143481/new-zealand-couples-concerned-for-planet-choose-childless-futures|access-date=March 7, 2021}}</ref>
** Concern regarding environmental impacts of human activities including population growth such as [[Earth:Climate change|climate change]], [[Earth:Global warming|global warming]], pollution, resource [[Finance:Scarcity|scarcity]] and famines, [[Social:Humanitarian crisis|humanitarian crises]] such as refugee crises and resulting ethnic conflicts, loss of [[Biology:Biodiversity|biodiversity]] or mass extinction (see the [[Earth:Holocene extinction|Holocene Extinction]])<ref name="Stegeman" /><ref name="Bodin" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" />
** The belief that having one fewer child reduces one's carbon dioxide emissions significantly compared to, for instance, owning a car with improved fuel efficiency, replacing incandescent light bulbs with more energy efficient models, avoiding air travel, practicing comprehensive recycling, or adopting a vegetarian diet<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/479349760/should-we-be-having-kids-in-the-age-of-climate-change Should We Be Having Kids In The Age Of Climate Change?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907220211/https://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/479349760/should-we-be-having-kids-in-the-age-of-climate-change|date=2020-09-07}}. NPR. August 18, 2016.</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/children-carbon-footprint-climate-change-damage-having-kids-research-a7837961.html Having children is one of the most destructive things you can to do the environment, say researchers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014054551/https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/children-carbon-footprint-climate-change-damage-having-kids-research-a7837961.html|date=2020-10-14}}. ''The Independent''. July 12, 2017.</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":23" />
** Worries over the [[Social:Societal collapse|breakdown of civilization]]<ref name=":1" />
* Opposition to [[Philosophy:Anthropocentrism|anthropocentrism]]<ref name=":6" /> and belief in [[Biology:Deep ecology|deep ecology]], or putting non-human lives first<ref name="VHEMT" /><ref name=":0" />
* Support for the eventual extinction of ''Homo sapiens''<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name="VHEMT" />
** Opinion that the [[Organization:Voluntary Human Extinction Movement|voluntary extinction of humanity]] will not be entirely a tragedy<ref name=":8" /> but an act of empathy and nobility<ref name=":6" />

==Statistics and research==
===General===
Psychologist Ellen Walker argued in ''Psychology Today'' that the childfree lifestyle had become a trend in 2014.<ref name=":5" /> The Internet has enabled people who pursue this lifestyle to connect, thereby making it more visible.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":11" /> Worldwide, higher educated women are statistically more often choosing to remain childless.<ref name="van de Water" /> Research into both voluntary and involuntary [[Biology:Childlessness|childlessness]] and parenthood has long focused on women's experiences, and men's perspectives are often overlooked.<ref name="Bodin" />

===Asia===
====China====
In China, the cost of living, especially the cost of housing in the big cities, is a serious obstacle to marriage. In the 1990s, the Chinese government reformed higher education in order to increase access, whereupon significantly more young people, a slight majority of whom being women, have received a university degree. Consequently, many young women are now gainfully employed and financially secure. Traditional views on gender roles dictate that women be responsible for housework and childcare, regardless of their employment status. Workplace discrimination against women (with families) is commonplace; for example, an employer might be more skeptical towards a married woman with one child, fearing she might have another (as the one-child policy was rescinded in 2016) and take more maternity leave. Altogether, there is less incentive for young women to marry. In addition, Chinese Millennials are less keen on tying the knots than their predecessors as a result of cultural change. Because this is a country where having children out of wedlock is quite rare, this means that many young people are foregoing children.<ref name=":65" />

The "lying flat" movement, popular among Chinese youths, also extends to the domain of marriage and child-rearing.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Huifeng|first=He|date=January 6, 2022|title=Why are China's Gen Z women rejecting marriage, kids more than their male counterparts?|work=The South China Morning Post|url=https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3162221/why-are-chinas-gen-z-women-rejecting-marriage-kids-more-their|access-date=January 9, 2022}}</ref> Over half of Chinese youths aged 18 to 26 said they were uninterested in having children because of the high cost of child-rearing, according to a 2021 poll by the Communist Youth League.<ref name=":62">{{Cite news |last1=Xinyu |first1=Du |last2=Yun |first2=Fang |date=October 11, 2021 |title=44% of China's Urban Young Women Don't Plan to Marry, Survey Says |work=Sixth Tone |url=https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008664/44%25-of-chinas-urban-young-women-dont-plan-to-marry,-survey-says |access-date=January 16, 2023}}</ref> While the Chinese economy is steeply rising, explosive bloom of the real-estate market post-2008 has triggered an increase in house prices disproportionate to income and this is the commonly cited reason for childlessness and "lying flat" among the Chinese youth. A normal apartment unit in Beijing (with an average area of 112 square meters), for instance, costs on average ¥7.31 million ($1.15 million)<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 2, 2022|title=北京房价走势最新消息_2022年北京房价-城市房产网|url=http://bj.cityhouse.cn/market/|access-date=February 2, 2022}}</ref> and one would need to work non-stop for at least 88.2 years at Beijing's average monthly income of ¥6906 ($1083.7)<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 2, 2022|title=北京市薪资水平报告 (2022)|url=https://salarycalculator.sinaapp.com/report/%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC|access-date=February 2, 2022}}</ref> without any expenditures.

====Taiwan====
In Taiwan, it has become much more affordable for young couples to own pets instead of having children. In addition, those who want children face obstacles such as short maternity leaves and low wages. By 2020, Taiwan has become home to more pets than children.<ref name=":3" />

====Vietnam====
As Vietnam continues to industrialize and urbanize, many couples have chosen to have fewer children, or none at all, especially in better developed and more densely populated places, such as Ho Chi Minh City, where the fertility rate fell to 1.45 in 2015, well below replacement. Rising cost of living and tiredness from work are among the reasons why.<ref>{{Cite news|date=July 7, 2017|title=Dropping fertility rates raise alarm|work=Vietnam News|url=https://vietnamnews.vn/society/379686/dropping-fertility-rates-raise-alarm.html|access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref> By 2023, polls show that significant numbers of married Vietnamese are choosing to not have children in order to focus on their lives and careers, or because they are wary of the demands of parenthood.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Phan |first=Duong |date=May 15, 2023 |title=More Vietnamese marriages going childless |work=VN Express |url=https://e.vnexpress.net/news/trend/more-vietnamese-marriages-going-childless-4603904.html |access-date=May 18, 2023}}</ref>

===Europe===
In Europe, childlessness among women aged 40–44 is most common in Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom (in 2010–2011).<ref name="oecd.org">{{Cite web|title=Archived copy|url=https://www.oecd.org/els/family/SF_2-5-Childlessness.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216153234/https://www.oecd.org/els/family/SF_2-5-Childlessness.pdf|archive-date=2019-02-16|access-date=2017-01-02}}</ref> Among surveyed countries, childlessness was least common across Eastern European countries,<ref name="oecd.org" /> although [[Social:Only child|one child]] families are very common there.{{citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Is this also based on the OECD source?}}

====Belgium====
In March 2020, ''Quest'' reported that research had shown that, in Belgium, 11% of women and 16% of men between the ages of 25 and 35 did not want children.<ref name="van de Water" />

====Netherlands====
{{bar box
|float=right
|caption=Reasons why Dutch women chose not to have children, 2004<ref name="CBS 2004"/>
|width=420px
|bars=
{{bar percent|Children infringe on freedom|red|54}}
{{bar percent|Raising children takes too much time and energy|orange|35}}
{{bar percent|Partner did not want children|yellow|28}}
{{bar percent|Hard to combine work and children|green|26}}
{{bar percent|No compelling need/unfit|cyan|23}}
{{bar percent|Health does not allow for children|blue|18}}
{{bar percent|Children cost too much|purple|7}}
{{bar percent|Hard to get child care|pink|5}}
}}
According to research by Statistics Netherlands from 2004, 6 in 10 childless women are voluntarily childless.<ref name="CBS 2004" /> It showed a correlation between higher levels of education of women and the choice to be childfree, and the fact that women had been receiving better education in the preceding decades was a factor why an increasing number of women chose childfreedom.<ref name="CBS 2004" /> The two most important reasons for choosing not to have children were that it would infringe on their freedom and that raising children takes too much time and energy; many women who gave the second reason also gave the first.<ref name="CBS 2004" /> A 2016 report from Statistics Netherlands confirmed those numbers: 20% of Dutch women were childless, of whom 60% voluntarily, so that 12% of all Dutch women could be considered childfree.<ref name="Aukema" />

In March 2017, ''Trouw'' reported that a new Statistics Netherlands report showed that 22% of higher educated 45-year-old men were childless and 33% of lower educated 45-year-old men were childless. Childlessness amongst the latter was increasing, even though most of them were involuntarily childless. The number of voluntarily childless people amongst higher educated men had been increasing since the 1960s, whilst voluntary childlessness amongst lower educated men (who tended to have been raised more traditionally) did not become a rising trend until the 2010s.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Melanie Zierse|date=30 March 2017|title=Kinderloosheid onder laagopgeleiden neemt toe|language=nl|work=Trouw|url=https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/kinderloosheid-onder-laagopgeleiden-neemt-toe~b0313241/|access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref>

In March 2020, ''Quest'' reported that research from ''Trouw'' and Statistics Netherlands had shown that 10% of 30-year-old Dutch women questioned had not had children out of her own choice, and did not expect to have any children anymore either; furthermore, 8.5% of 45-year-old women questioned and 5.5% of 60-year-old women questioned stated that they had consciously remained childless.<ref name="van de Water" />

====Russia====
In October 2020, [https://tass.ru/obschestvo/9598459 NAFI] reported that 7% of population between the ages of 18 and 45 did not want children, this figure reached 20% within Moscow population.
Most often, educated, wealthy and ambitious people refuse to have children. They are unwilling to sacrifice their comfort and career for the sake of their children. [https://www.1tv.ru/news/2014-09-28/34043-dvizhenie_chayldfri_svobodnye_ot_detey_nabiraet_oboroty_v_rossii_i_evrope]
At the same time, the spread of ideology is prohibited in the country, and the founder of the movement Childfree Russia, Edward Lisovskii, is being persecuted by the government. [https://vm.ru/tv/832162-kruglyj-stol-komu-nuzhny-deti] [https://www.1tv.ru/shows/doctalk/vypuski/mir-bez-detey-dok-tok-vypusk-ot-04-05-2021] [https://www.spb.kp.ru/daily/26048/2961065/]

====Sweden====
According to a 2019 study amongst 191 Swedish men aged 20 to 50, 39 were not fathers and did not want to have children in the future either (20.4%). Desire to have (more) children was not related to level of education, country of birth, sexual orientation or relationship status.<ref name="Bodin" />

Some Swedish men 'passively' choose not to have children as they feel their life is already good as it is, adding children is not necessary, and they do not have to counter the same amount of social pressure to have children as childfree women do.<ref name="Bodin" />

====United Kingdom====
A YouGov poll released in January 2020 revealed that among Britons who were not already parents, 37% told pollsters they did not want any children ever. 19% said they did not want children but might change their minds in the future and 26% were interested in having children. Those who did not want to be parents included 13% of people aged 18 to 24, 20% of those aged 25 to 34, and 51% aged 35 to 44. Besides age (23%), the most popular reasons for not having children were the potential impact on lifestyles (10%), high costs of living and raising children (10%), human overpopulation (9%), dislike of children (8%), and lack of parental instincts (6%).<ref name=":19">{{Cite news|last=Ibbetson|first=Connor|date=January 9, 2020|title=Why do people choose to not have children?|work=YouGov|url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/education/articles-reports/2020/01/09/why-are-britons-choosing-not-have-children|access-date=March 25, 2021}}</ref>

===North America===
====Canada====
In 2010, around half of Canadian women without children in their 40s had decided to not have any from an early age.<ref name="Buonadonna" /> A 2023 report from Statistics Canada states that over a third of Canadians aged 18 to 49 do not want to have children. Many are also delaying having children or want to have fewer children than their predecessors.<ref name=":30" /> Among Canadian women aged 50 and over, about 17.2% had no biological children, as of 2022.<ref name=":31">{{Cite news |last=Bielski |first=Zosia |date=January 19, 2024 |title=Baby boomers are adjusting to a new retirement normal: No grandchildren |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-birth-rate-decline-grandparents/ |archive-url=https://archive.ph/8JuFg |archive-date=January 21, 2024 |access-date=January 26, 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> Pursuit of higher education, unaffordable housing, economic precariousness, and the rising cost of living are among the reasons why.<ref name=":30">{{Cite news |last=Prentice |first=Amy-Ellen |date=March 1, 2023 |title=Some Gen Z, millennial Canadians choosing child-free life, according to new report |work=Global News |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9517960/gen-z-millennial-canadians-child-free-report/ |access-date=May 4, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":31" /> These trends have accelerated in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name=":31" /> Like the case in other countries, there is a generational gap in attitudes towards reproduction. Baby Boomers are more likely to consider raising (grand) children to be a source of fulfillment or the glue that holds a marriage together. But not that many young Canadians share this view.<ref name=":31" /> Moreover, while Canadians today are more tolerant towards the idea of not having children, many seniors still struggle with this decision coming from their own family members.<ref name=":31" />

====United States====
Being a childfree American adult was considered unusual in the 1950s.<ref name="Long Road">{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Patricia|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13generations.html?_r=1|title=Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer|work={{wipe|The New York Times}}|date=12 June 2010|access-date=17 September 2017|archive-date=5 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405123230/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13generations.html?_r=1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Childless By Choice – childless couples an emerging demographic – Statistical Data Included|work=American Demographics|date=2001-11-01|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2001_Nov_1/ai_79501204/pg_2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050702084631/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2001_Nov_1/ai_79501204/pg_2|url-status=dead|archive-date=2005-07-02|access-date=2006-12-12}}</ref> However, the proportion of childfree adults in the population has increased significantly since then. A 2006 study by Abma and Martinez found that American women aged 35 to 44 who were voluntarily childless constituted 5% of all U.S. women in 1982, 8% in 1988, 9% in 1995 and 7% in 2002. These women had the highest income, prior work experience and the lowest religiosity compared to other women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Abma|first1=Joyce C.|last2=Martinez|first2=Gladys M.|date=November 2006|title=Childlessness among Older Women in the United States: Trends and Profiles|journal=[[Social:Journal of Marriage and Family|Journal of Marriage and Family]]|publisher=National Council on Family Relations|volume=68|issue=4|pages=1045–1056|doi= 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00312.x|jstor=4122892}}</ref> Research by sociologist Kristin Park revealed that childfree people tended to be better educated, to be professionals, to live in urban areas, to be less religious, and to have less conventional life choices.<ref name=":13" /><ref name="blackwell-synergy.com">{{Cite journal|last=Park|first=Kristin|date=August 2005|title=Choosing Childlessness: Weber's Typology of Action and Motives of the Voluntarily Childless|journal=Sociological Inquiry|publisher=Blackwell Synergy|volume=75|issue=3|pages=372–402|doi=10.1111/j.1475-682X.2005.00127.x}}</ref>

From 2007 to 2011 the fertility rate in the U.S. declined 9%, the Pew Research Center reporting in 2010 that the birth rate was the lowest in U.S. history and that childlessness rose across all racial and ethnic groups to about 1 in 5 versus 1 in 10 in the 1970s; it did not say which percentage of childless Americans were so voluntarily, but ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' claimed that, despite persisting discrimination against especially women who chose to remain childless, acceptance of being childfree was gradually increasing.<ref name="Time20130812">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2148636,00.html|title=Having It All Without Having Children|last=Sandler|first=Lauren|date=August 12, 2013|magazine=TIME|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805064814/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2148636,00.html|archive-date=August 5, 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=August 4, 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Reasons for Childfreeness.png|thumb|500x500px|A growing share of American adults does not want to have children.]]
Over all, the importance of having children has declined across all age groups in the United States, especially the young.<ref name=":1002">{{Cite news |last=Zitner |first=Aaron |date=March 27, 2023 |title=Americans Pull Back From Values That Once Defined U.S., WSJ-NORC Poll Finds |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/americans-pull-back-from-values-that-once-defined-u-s-wsj-norc-poll-finds-df8534cd |access-date=March 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/4aheK |archive-date=March 28, 2023}}</ref> A cross-generational study comparing Millennials (graduating class of 2012) to [[Philosophy:Generation X|Generation X]] (graduating class of 1992) conducted at Wharton School of Business revealed that among both genders the proportion of undergraduates who reported they eventually planned to have children had dropped in half over the course of a generation. In 1992, 78% of women planned to eventually have children. But by 2021, that number fell to 42%. The results were similar for male students.<ref>{{cite web|date=2012-11-19|title=Life Interests Of Wharton Students|url=http://worklife.wharton.upenn.edu/research/life-interests-of-wharton-students/|access-date=1 June 2016|website=Work/Life Integration Project|publisher=University of Pennsylvania}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Anderson|first1=Kare|date=5 October 2013|title=Baby Bust: Millennials' View Of Family, Work, Friendship And Doing Well|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kareanderson/2013/10/05/baby-bust-millennials-view-of-family-work-friendship-and-doing-well/#6858f97070dd|magazine=Forbes|access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Assimon|first1=Jessie|title=Millennials Aren't Planning on Having Children. Should We Worry?|publisher=Parents|url=http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents-perspective/2014/01/10/the-parents-perspective/millennials-arent-planning-on-having-children-should-we-worry/|access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref> However, voluntary childlessness in the United States was more common among higher educated women but not higher educated men.<ref name="Bodin" /> A 2021 survey by Pew found that the number of non-parents aged 18 to 49 who said they were not too likely or not at all likely to have children was 44%, up seven points compared to 2018. Among these people, 56% said they simply did not want to have children.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Anna |date=November 19, 2021 |title=Growing share of childless adults in U.S. don't expect to ever have children |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/19/growing-share-of-childless-adults-in-u-s-dont-expect-to-ever-have-children/ |access-date=September 1, 2022 |website=Pew Research Center}}</ref> A 2023 poll by ''The Wall Street Journal'' and NORC at the University of Chicago found that about 23% of people adults below the age of 30 thought that having children was important, 9 percentage points below those aged 65 and above.<ref name=":1002" />

Psychologist Paul Dolan made the case that women who never married or have children are among the happiest subgroup in the United States by analyzing American Time Use Survey.<ref name=":10" /> 2019 data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows that among single people, women without children made more money than men without children or men and women with children.<ref name=":22">{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Molly |date=August 31, 2022 |title=Women Who Stay Single and Don't Have Kids Are Getting Richer |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/women-not-having-kids-get-richer-than-men |access-date=September 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220831113805/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/women-not-having-kids-get-richer-than-men |archive-date=August 31, 2022}}</ref>

In the U.S., although being voluntarily childless or childfree is not without its disadvantages, such as higher taxes, less affordable housing options, and concern of old age, parenthood continues to lose its appeal.<ref name=":22" /> After the Supreme Court decision ''[[Organization:Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization|Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization]]'' (2022), which returned the right to regulate aspects of abortion not covered by federal law to the individual states, the number of young and childfree adults seeking sterilization went up. Previously, it was usually middle-aged fathers who obtained vasectomies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alisha Haridasani Gupta |first=Alisha Haridasani |date=August 18, 2022 |title='Snip Snip Hooray': Vasectomies Among the Young and Child-Free May Be Rising |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/well/vasectomy-contraception-abortion.html |access-date=December 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220819114553/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/well/vasectomy-contraception-abortion.html |archive-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wizner |first=Taylor |date=December 7, 2023 |title=After Dobbs, doctors say more people are turning to permanent contraception |work=Iowa Public Radio |url=https://www.iowapublicradio.org/health/2023-12-07/after-dobbs-doctors-say-more-people-are-turning-to-permanent-contraception |access-date=December 18, 2023}}</ref>

===Oceania===
====New Zealand====
Statistics New Zealand estimated that the share of childfree women grew from under 10% in 1996 to around 15% in 2013. Professional women were the most likely to be without children, at 16%, compared with 12% for manual workers. At least 5% of women were childfree by choice.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Collins|first=Simon|date=June 29, 2015|title=The rise of childless couples - are Kiwis leaving it too late?|work=New Zealand Herald|department=Lifestyle|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/the-rise-of-childless-couples-are-kiwis-leaving-it-too-late/Y4GVG5Z7Y5CGSSSFJH6YUHHGAU/|access-date=March 9, 2021}}</ref>

==Social attitudes to remaining childfree==

Most societies place a high value on parenthood in adult life, so that people who remain childfree are sometimes stereotyped as being "individualistic" people who avoid social responsibility and are less prepared to commit themselves to helping others.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.3138/jcfs.42.4.421|title=Childlessness and Norms of Familial Responsibility in the Netherlands|journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies|volume=42|issue=4|pages=421–438|year=2011|last1=Keizer|first1=Renske|last2=Dykstra|first2=Pearl A.|last3=Poortman|first3=Anne-Rigt|hdl=1765/101421|url=http://repub.eur.nl/pub/101421|access-date=2019-12-12|archive-date=2020-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126205227/https://repub.eur.nl/pub/101421|url-status=live|hdl-access=free}}</ref> However, certain groups believe that being childfree is beneficial. With the advent of environmentalism and concerns for stewardship, those choosing to not have children are also sometimes recognized as helping reduce our impact. Some childfree are sometimes lauded on moral grounds, such as members of philosophical or religious groups, like the Shakers.{{citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Probably true, but needs a source}}

There are three broad areas of criticism regarding childfreeness, based upon socio-political, feminist or religious reasons.{{citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=According to whom are there 3 broad areas of criticism?}} There are also considerations relating to personal philosophy and social roles.{{citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=According to whom are 'considerations relating to personal philosophy and social roles' secondary to the 3 broad areas of criticism?}}

===Feminism===
Feminist author Daphne DeMarneffe links larger feminist issues to both the devaluation of motherhood in contemporary society, as well as the delegitimization of "maternal desire" and pleasure in motherhood.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Daphne|last=DeMarneffe|title=Maternal Desire: On Children, Love, and the Inner Life|publisher=Back Bay Books/Little, Brown, and Company|year=2005}}{{page needed|date=March 2019}}</ref> In third-wave handbook ''Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future'', authors Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards explore the concept of third-wave feminists reclaiming "girlie" culture, along with reasons why women of Baby Boomer and [[Philosophy:Generation X|Generation X]] ages may reject motherhood because, at a young and impressionable age, they witnessed their own mothers being devalued by society and family.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Jennifer|last1=Baumgardner|first2=Amy|last2=Richards|title=Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future|publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux|year=2000}}{{page needed|date=March 2019}}</ref>

On the other hand, in "The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order"<ref>{{Cite news|first=Debbie, Marcelle|last=Stoller, Karp|title= The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order|publisher=Penguin|year=1999}}</ref> and in ''Utne Reader'' magazine, third-wave feminist writer Tiffany Lee Brown described the joys and freedoms of childfree living, freedoms such as travel previously associated with males in Western culture. In "Motherhood Lite", she celebrates being an aunt, co-parent, or family friend over the idea of being a mother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.utne.com/2001-01-01/motherhood-lite.aspx|title=Motherhood Lite|last=Brown|first=Tiffany Lee|date=2001|website=Utne Reader|access-date=2016-07-25|archive-date=2012-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008231448/http://www.utne.com/2001-01-01/motherhood-lite.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Overpopulation===
{{Main|Unsolved:Human overpopulation}}
The human population has grown significantly since the start of industrialization, leading many to believe that overpopulation is a serious problem and some to question the fairness of what they feel amounts to subsidies for having children, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (US), free K–12 education paid for by all taxpayers, family medical leave, and other such programs.<ref name=Burkett>{{Cite news|first=Elinor|last=Burkett|title=The baby boon: how family-friendly America cheats the childless|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|date=c. 2000|isbn=0-684-86303-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/babyboonhowfamil00burk}}</ref>
Others, however, do not believe overpopulation to be a problem in itself, regarding such problems as overcrowding, global warming, and straining food supplies to be problems of public policy and/or technology.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Overpopulation Myths|work=Daily Policy Digest, International Issues|publisher=National Center for Policy Analysis|date=1995-10-05|url=http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?page=article&Article_ID=13087|access-date=12 December 2006|archive-date=2006-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203091423/http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?page=article&Article_ID=13087|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some have argued that this sort of conscientiousness is self-eliminating (assuming it is heritable), so by avoiding reproduction for ethical reasons the childfree will only aid in the deterioration of concern for the environment and future generations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hardin|first=Garrett|date=December 13, 1968|title=The Tragedy of the Commons|journal=Science|url=http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html|access-date=2008-01-25|doi=10.1126/science.162.3859.1243|volume=162|issue=3859|pages=1243–8|pmid=5699198|bibcode=1968Sci...162.1243H|doi-access=free|archive-date=2012-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124223827/http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schneider-Mayerson|first=Matthew|date=2021-03-28|title=The environmental politics of reproductive choices in the age of climate change|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2021.1902700|journal=Environmental Politics|volume=31|pages=152–172|doi=10.1080/09644016.2021.1902700|s2cid=233666068|issn=0964-4016}}</ref>

===Government and taxes===

Some regard governmental or employer-based incentives offered only to parents—such as a per-child income tax credit, preferential absence planning, employment legislation, or special facilities—as intrinsically discriminatory, arguing for their removal, reduction, or the formation of a corresponding system of matching incentives for other categories of social relationships. Childfree advocates argue that other forms of caregiving have historically not been considered equal—that "only babies count"—and that this is an outdated idea that is in need of revision. Caring for sick, disabled, or elderly dependents entails significant financial and emotional costs but is not currently subsidized in the same manner. This commitment has traditionally and increasingly fallen largely on women, contributing to the feminization of poverty in the U.S.<ref>{{cite conference|first=Carol|last=Levine|title=Panel Presentation: Long Term Care and Caregiving|location=1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C|url=http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/register/levine.htm|conference=|access-date=2007-04-18|archive-date=2007-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071124203753/http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/register/levine.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The focus on personal acceptance is mirrored in much of the literature surrounding choosing not to reproduce. Many early books were grounded in [[Social:Feminism|feminist]] theory and largely sought to dispel the idea that womanhood and motherhood were necessarily the same thing, arguing, for example, that childfree people face not only social discrimination but political discrimination as well.<ref name=Burkett />

===Religion===
Abrahamic religions such as [[Religion:Judaism|Judaism]], [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]], and [[Religion:Islam|Islam]] place a high value on children and their central place in marriage.{{citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=No source, sounds like original research}} In numerous works, including an Apostolic letter written in 1988,<ref>{{cite web|author=Pope John Paul II|title=Apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|date=15 August 1988|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_15081988_mulieris-dignitatem_en.html|access-date=12 December 2006|archive-date=2007-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107000833/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_15081988_mulieris-dignitatem_en.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] has set forth the Roman Catholic emphasis on the role of children in family life. However, the Catholic Church also stresses the value of [[Philosophy:Chastity|chastity]].{{citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=No source, sounds like original research}}

There are, however, some debates within religious groups about whether a childfree lifestyle is acceptable. Another view, for example, is that the biblical verse "Be fruitful and multiply" in Genesis 1:28, is really not a command but an expression of blessing.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Van Leeuwen|first=Raymond C.|title=Is It All Right for a Married Couple to Choose to Remain Childless?|journal=Today's Christian Woman|volume=25|issue=5|pages=24|publisher=Christianity Today International|date=September–October 2003|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2003/005/20.24.html|access-date=12 December 2006|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118123754/https://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2003/september/20.24.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Alternatively, some Christians believe that Genesis 1:28 is a moral command but nonetheless believe that voluntary childlessness is ethical if a [[Philosophy:Graded absolutism|higher ethical principle]] intervenes to make child bearing imprudent in comparison. Health concerns, a calling to serve [[Social:Orphan|orphan]]s, serving as missionaries in a dangerous location, etc., are all examples that would make childbearing imprudent for a Christian. A small activist group, the Cyber-Church of Jesus Christ Childfree, defends this view, saying "Jesus loved children but chose to never have any, so that he could devote his life to telling the Good News."<ref name="cyber">{{cite web|title=The Cyber-Church of Jesus Christ Childfree|url=http://www.eilertech.com/cyberchurch/cyberchurch.htm|accessdate=2006-12-08|publisher=The Cyber-Church of Jesus Christ Childfree}}</ref>

===Ethical reasons===
{{main|Philosophy:Antinatalism}}

Essayist Brian Tomasik cites ethical reasons for people to remain childfree. Also, they will have more time to focus on themselves, which will allow for greater creativity and the exploration of personal ambitions. In this way, they may benefit themselves and society more than if they had a child.<ref>{{cite web|last=Tomasik|first=Brian|title=The Cost of Kids|url=http://www.utilitarian-essays.com/cost-of-kids.html|access-date=2013-01-10|archive-date=2012-08-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828122622/http://www.utilitarian-essays.com/cost-of-kids.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===The "selfish" issue===
{{main|Physics:Asymmetry (population ethics)}}
Some opponents of the childfree choice consider such a choice to be [[Philosophy:Selfishness|selfish]]. The rationale of this position is the assertion that raising children is a very important activity and so not engaging in this activity must therefore mean living one's life in service to one's self. The value judgment behind this idea is that individuals should endeavor to make some kind of meaningful contribution to the world, but also that the best way to make such a contribution is to have children. For some people, one or both of these assumptions may be true, but others prefer to direct their time, energy, and talents elsewhere, in many cases toward improving the world that today's children occupy (and that future generations will inherit).<ref name=English>{{Cite news|first=Jane|last=English|title=Childlessness Transformed: Stories of Alternative Parenting|url=http://www.eheart.com/BOOKS/childless/index.html|publisher=Earth Heart|date=December 1986|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018143740/http://www.eheart.com/BOOKS/childless/index.html|archive-date=2006-10-18}}</ref>

Proponents of childfreedom posit that choosing ''not'' to have children is no more or less selfish than choosing to have children. Choosing to have children may be the more selfish choice, especially when poor parenting risks creating many long-term problems for both the children themselves and society at large.<ref>{{cite book|first=Catherine|last=Leone|title=Fairness, Freedom and Responsibility: The Dilemma of Fertility Choice in America|publisher=Washington State University|date=1986|type=PhD Thesis|oclc=29721613}}</ref> As philosopher [[Biography:David Benatar|David Benatar]] explains, at the heart of the decision to bring a child into the world often lies the parents' own desires (to enjoy child-rearing or perpetuate one's legacy/genes), rather than the potential person's interests. At the very least, Benatar believes this illustrates why a childfree person may be just as altruistic as any parent.<ref name=Benatar>{{Cite news|first=David|last=Benatar|title=Better Never to Have Been|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2006-10-19}}</ref>

There is also the question as to whether having children really is such a positive contribution to the world in an age when there are many concerns about [[Unsolved:Human overpopulation|overpopulation]], pollution and depletion of non-renewable resources. This is especially true for the wealthy 1% of global population who consume disproportionate amounts of resources and who are responsible for 15% of global carbon emissions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621052/mb-confronting-carbon-inequality-210920-en.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Archived copy|access-date=2020-10-25|archive-date=2020-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024184222/https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621052/mb-confronting-carbon-inequality-210920-en.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|url-status=live}}</ref> Some critics counter that such analyses of having children may understate its potential benefits to society (e.g. a greater labour force, which may provide greater opportunity to solve social problems) and overstate the costs. That is, there is often a need{{clarify|date=August 2022}}<!-- please add justification that said "need" is real --> for a non-zero [[Birth rate|birth rate]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2037/|title=Be Fruitful and Multiply|last=Landsburg|first=Steven E.|date=1997-04-13|newspaper=Slate|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|access-date=2016-07-25|archive-date=2011-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819083659/http://www.slate.com/id/2037/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Stigma===
{{main|Biology:Infertility and childlessness stigmas}}
People who express the fact that they have voluntarily chosen to remain childless are frequently subjected to several forms of discrimination.<ref name="Buonadonna">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-10786279|title=The women who choose not to be mothers|author=Paola Buonadonna, Vibeke Venema, Megan Lane|work=BBC News|date=29 July 2010|access-date=31 May 2020|archive-date=7 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207185744/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-10786279|url-status=live}}</ref> The decision not to have children has been attributed to insanity or derided as "unnatural", and frequently childfree people are subjected to unsolicited questioning by friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances and even strangers who attempt to force them to justify and change their decision.<ref name="Buonadonna"/><ref name="Stegeman"/><ref name="Bodin"/> Some British childfree women have compared their experiences of coming out as childfree to [[Social:Coming out|coming out]] as gay in the mid-20th century.<ref name="Buonadonna"/> Some Canadian women preferred not to express their decision to remain childless for fear of encountering social pressure to change their decision.<ref name="Buonadonna"/> Some women are told to first have a child before being able to properly decide that they do not want one.<ref name="Buonadonna"/> Some parents try to pressure their children into producing grandchildren and threaten to or actually [[Social:Disownment|disown]] them if they do not.<ref name="Buonadonna"/><ref name="Leenaert"/> Some childfree women are told they would make good mothers, or just "haven't met the right man yet", are assumed to be infertile rather than having made a conscious decision not to make use of their fertility (whether applicable or not).<ref name="Buonadonna"/> Some childfree people are accused of hating all children instead of just not wanting any themselves and still being able to help people who do have children with things like babysitting.<ref name="Buonadonna"/><ref name="Leenaert"/>

It has also been claimed that there is a taboo on discussing the negative aspects of pregnancy, and a taboo on parents to express regret that they chose to have children, which makes it harder for childfree people to defend their decision not to have them.<ref name="Leenaert"/>

Social attitudes about voluntarily childlessness have been slowly changing from condemnation and pathologisation in the 1970s towards more acceptance by the 2010s.<ref name="Bodin"/>

==Organizations and political activism==
Childfree individuals do not necessarily share a unified political or economic philosophy, and most prominent childfree organizations tend to be social in nature. Childfree social groups first emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, most notable among them the National Alliance for Optional Parenthood and No Kidding! in North America where numerous books have been written about childfree people and where a range of social positions related to childfree interests have developed along with political and social activism in support of these interests. The term "childfree" was used in a July 3, 1972 ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' article on the creation of the National Organization for Non-Parents.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877830,00.html|magazine=Time|title=Behavior: Down with Kids|date=1972-07-03|access-date=2007-03-06|archive-date=2007-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310182054/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877830,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was revived in the 1990s when Leslie Lafayette formed a later childfree group, the Childfree Network.<ref>{{cite book|first=Madelyn|last=Cain|title=The Childless Revolution|publisher=Purseus Publishing|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/childlessrevolut00cain/page/20 20]|isbn=978-0-7382-0460-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/childlessrevolut00cain}}</ref>

The [[Organization:Voluntary Human Extinction Movement|Voluntary Human Extinction Movement]] (VHEMT, pronounced 'vehement') is an environmental movement that calls for all people to abstain from reproduction to cause the gradual voluntary [[Unsolved:Human extinction|extinction of humankind]].<ref name="VHEMT">{{cite news|last=Knight|first=Les|date=10 January 2020|title=I campaign for the extinction of the human race|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/10/i-campaign-for-the-extinction-of-the-human-race-les-knight|url-status=live|work={{wipe|The Guardian}}|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110115412/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/10/i-campaign-for-the-extinction-of-the-human-race-les-knight|archive-date=10 January 2020|access-date=30 October 2020}}</ref> Despite its name, the movement also includes those who do not necessarily desire human extinction but do want to curb or reverse human population growth in the name of environmentalism.<ref name=":21" /> VHEMT was founded in 1991 by Les U. Knight, an American activist who became involved in the American environmental movement in the 1970s and thereafter concluded that human extinction was the best solution to the problems facing the Earth's [[Biology:Biosphere|biosphere]] and humanity.<ref name="VHEMT"/> VHEMT supports human extinction primarily because, in the movement's view, it would prevent environmental degradation.<ref name="VHEMT"/> The movement states that a decrease in the human population would [[Philosophy:Suffering-focused ethics|prevent a significant amount of human-caused suffering]].<ref name="VHEMT"/> The [[Biology:Extinction#Modern extinctions|extinctions of non-human species]] and the [[Finance:Scarcity|scarcity]] of resources required by humans are frequently cited by the movement as evidence of the harm caused by [[Unsolved:Human overpopulation|human overpopulation]].<ref name="VHEMT"/>

The movement has been equated with extremism in Russia, and its founder, Edward Lisovskii, is under persecution.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ufa.rbc.ru/ufa/15/03/2022/623025da9a7947bdbe3289c9 | title=Парламент Башкирии предлагает запретить пропаганду чайлдфри | date=15 March 2022 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* Abortion-rights movements
* [[Philosophy:Antinatalism|Antinatalism]]
* [[Biography:John B. Calhoun#Mouse experiments|John B. Calhoun]]
* [[Philosophy:Criticism of marriage|Criticism of marriage]]
* [[Social:DINK|DINK]]
* [[Earth:Individual action on climate change|Individual action on climate change]]
* Fertility and intelligence
* Population ageing
{{div col end}}

===Antonyms===
* [[Biology:Natalism|Natalism]]
* [[Social:Parent|Parent]]
* [[Social:Quiverfull|Quiverfull]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|last=Gillespie|first=Rosemary|jstor=3081818|title=Childfree and Feminine: Understanding the Gender Identity of Voluntarily Childless Women|journal=Gender and Society|volume=17|issue=1|year=2003|pages=122–35|doi=10.1177/0891243202238982|s2cid=145086015}}
*{{cite journal|last=Hird|first=Myra J.|jstor=1395859|title=Vacant Wombs: Feminist Challenges to Psychoanalytic Theories of Childless Women|journal=Feminist Review|volume=75|issue=1|year=2003|pages=5–19|doi=10.1057/palgrave.fr.9400115|s2cid=144655316}}
*{{Cite book|last=Benatar|first=David|title=Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-199-54926-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Waisberg|first=Tatiana|ssrn=3050988|chapter=The Last Front Line of Human Rights: The Childfree Choice and Women Empowerment|title=Genero, Meio Ambiente e Direitos Humanos|editor1-first=César Barros|editor1-last=Leal|editor2-first=Soledad Garcia|editor2-last=Muños|publisher=Fortaleza|year=2017|pages=181–217}}
* {{Cite web |last=Savage |first=Jade |date=December 20, 2022 |title=At the Intersection of Fiction and Reality: An Ideological and Rhetorical Contextualization of Two Childfree Heroines on American Television |url=https://medium.com/@jadesavage/at-the-intersection-of-fiction-and-reality-2e999b0918ef |access-date=December 29, 2022 |website=Medium}}

==External links==
* {{curlie|/Society/Lifestyle_Choices/Childfree/}}
* [https://reason.com/2008/02/26/why-are-people-having-fewer-ki/ Reason.com] – Why are People Having Fewer Kids?
* {{cite web|title=The Real Reason More Women Are Childless|work=Doublex|date=12 July 2010|publisher=Slate|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2010/07/the-real-reasons-more-women-are-remaining-childless.html|access-date=4 Sep 2011}}

{{Reproductive health}}

[[Category:Social movements]]

{{Sourceattribution|Voluntary childlessness}}