People are underestimating the prevalence of the childfree movement

Megabyte7637 · 2021-10-25T16:26:59+00:00

I don't think anyone's underestimating it. Population dynamics will soon look like that of Japan's, being very "top-heavy" with lots of old people and this has been a trend I learned at school when I was 14.

This is only a thing in economically developed countries who can easily replace the lost youth population with immigration and deal with the burden old people put on society.

Platinirism · 2021-10-25T16:30:40+00:00

Meanwhile, everyone but myself and one other person at work is above 35. Everyone but me has kids, most have multiple. Some are already grandpas.

CimZim · 2021-10-25T17:25:28+00:00

We are a growing percentage, but I don't think we'll get much good representation. Regardless of whether the person is a man or woman, most people 45+ are seriously against anyone who is childfree. The media says we're selfish, bad with children, uncaring, incapable of nurturing, love money more than people, and are perpetual children ourselves.

CFinCanada · 2021-10-25T17:34:42+00:00

Yes, the latest study from the University of Michigan found that 27% of adults are childfree, with zero plans to have children biological or adopted: https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=260662#:~:text=Out%20of%20a%20representative%20sample,have%20kids%2C%20biological%20or%20adopted.&text=It's%20unclear%2C%20though%2C%20to%20what,or%20delaying%20starting%20a%20family.

gofigure62 · 2021-10-25T16:44:09+00:00

The childfree population is definitely growing, but we're still a minority.

I'm 30 and most people in my age demographic where I live want to get married and have children. They're actively dating to find someone to get married to and have children with.

I've been seeking a childfree counterpart and there just aren't many of us put in the wild. Especially among certain education and income demographics.

Also I've noticed that many people who say that they don't want children mean that they don't want children at that specific time in their life. They don't mean that they don't want children eventually. Many of my friends that said they didn't want children in their 20s are having them now.

Lastly many people are giving up parenthood because it's impractical for them. Many people would like to be parents but they couldn't realistically afford it and they have legitimate concerns about what harships their children would have to endure with climate change.

The trend of childfree people is absolutely growing though.

vredditcocksucker · 2021-10-25T16:53:11+00:00

i think it's more likely that you're overestimating it because you and your coworkers are the demographic where it's most common. it's mostly an urban upper middle class thing.

MakeMoneyNotWar · 2021-10-25T17:04:13+00:00

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Balance2BBetter · 2021-10-25T20:14:34+00:00

As a CF person, this is actually nice to read. I’ve never knowingly met another CF person irl, so I’m happy to hear that there are others out there, and that it’s growing.

Inf3rn0_exile · 2021-10-25T18:52:10+00:00

actually, my country (india) could use people adopting a childfree lifestyle. We are way too overpopulated. There's just too damn much competition over jobs and the ones that you get are barely enough to feed yourself.. let alone taking on the responsibility of a kid.

CFinCanada · 2021-10-25T19:06:39+00:00

There is a total of zero incentives to have children.

Let's look at it: $1 million dollar per child to raise to adulthood, damage to women's body that makes her gain weight and age faster because according to nature, she's done her job, stress and lack of sleep for at least 6 years non stop, the end of fun and romantic evenings with partner replaced with cleaning 10th time the mess the kids leave, much higher odds of divorce, odds that kid can't or won't work or becomes drug addict in college and becomes a bigger problem like steals money or moves back in and chance of getting a mentally ill child meaning your life is now being a caretaker for a vegetable. And that's forever.

Alternatively i could keep traveling the world and waking up late to cuddles with my husband, retire as planned by 50 and spend my days reading and gardening and live a quiet stress free life.

It's a hard choice. I really don't get why westerners are not having kids!!111

Here's an idea. Provide major incentives like Hungary does. Hungary cancells all taxes if you have 4 kids and up and taxes are lowered with each kid. The birth rate has gone up. Look it up.

Telling me I need to be a corporate drone and raise more drones on my meager leftovers. Lol. Go fuck yourselves, excuse my French, boomers.

2021-10-25T18:53:26+00:00

If you want kids for non selfish reasoms cool. I just think some people do it for selfish reasons. Trying to live through their kid because their life sucked, thinking their gene line will continue on even though there is no guarantees their children, grandchildren will reproduce etc. The kid deserves love and care not narcissism.

xQueen-Bx · 2021-10-25T17:30:48+00:00

it is very common in 20s and then boom, 74% of the "child free" women will marry and have babies. when i was young in the 90s everyoen was "childfree" too lol whoop de doo

xKalisto · 2021-10-25T18:04:36+00:00

This has often been noted as a demographic trend in Europe that's gonna fck us up eventually. It's not some wild news.

vial_of_music · 2021-10-25T17:30:10+00:00

i don’t think people are underestimating but that’s probably because i live in a major city and most of my friends (myself included) don’t plan on having children

however my hometown that’s like very suburban ish many many girls from my HS who stayed- do have children now

Danielcraigboston1 · 2021-10-25T17:47:17+00:00

I want to have kids one day. If I don’t have one by 45, I won’t have any. I’ll just give up by that point.

AreOut · 2021-10-25T18:31:05+00:00

the population is just going to be replaced with more religious/traditional people

YouRanAway · 2021-10-25T22:13:20+00:00

People act like the CF subreddit is representative of actual CF people in real life; it’s like equating people on the atheism subreddit to be representative of the average atheist.

Anyways, the question isn’t really if/when are you having kids.

The accurate question is can you truly afford to have kids?

Mrs_Drgree · 2021-10-25T16:41:07+00:00

This post has been reflaired as CMV since OP has made an affirmative claim in the title.

SaBahRub · 2021-10-25T16:56:12+00:00

Ask childfree daters how it’s going

It’s not a movement either

That’s antinatalism

baresquad · 2021-10-25T17:34:57+00:00

I just think there’s a bunch of people who see more to life than living the traditional way that a majority of people think things are “supposed to go”

The linear path is seemingly supposed to go like start a career, get married, have kids and more and more people put that off or just simply don’t want to do that and it’s perfectly fine

I know for me personally I have a lot more life left to live before I can even consider wanting kids and even if then is I can’t promise it’s going to be something I want to do. It’s way too expensive, the planet is dying, and society is full of sociopaths so a quiet life without the hassle seems much more attractive and I can see why a lot of people are choosing that route nowadays

Ok_Razzmatazz_1751 · 2021-10-25T17:08:52+00:00

People are still having children especially in lower economy class brackets , it's well known the educated class show less interest in childern , hence why Some men don't want women in general educated . The better educated , less control one can have over another.

learn2earn89 · 2021-10-25T18:00:00+00:00

It’s a growing demographic but I think the majority of people my age want to have kids eventually, maybe in their mid to late 30s and they want one or two kids at most. My best friend just had her first kid at 31 and wanted a second one at first—now she’s not so sure.

Me? I’m on the fence. I don’t know how fertile I am but it’s also not the end of the world if I don’t have a kid. I have a nephew and a niece. My other siblings also plan to have two kids each.

anonymousUser1SHIFT · 2021-10-26T04:07:47+00:00

A huge reason why parents and older generation don't think is that prevalent is because they assume it is the natural path of life (to them having kids is second a thought, like reading). When they were dating (in their time), asking about having kids during dating was unheard of, more so you would bring up how you didn't want kids.

I had a talk with my mom a while back and she got that I didn't want kids. However when I brought it up that I was going under the knife, she was like "what if you meet someone who wants kids??". The whole concept of not having kids doesn't exist for them, so as a collective don't see it.

FabulousFuchsbau · 2021-10-26T10:16:36+00:00

People who don’t want children shouldn’t have them, all you do is bring a person into world who never wanted to be here and you never wanted

kyjolski · 2021-10-25T18:19:08+00:00

I think you're right that it's large scale especially among city dwellers. Also more educated and/or liberal people are more likely to not have children because they don't feel as pressured by 'tradition'.

Then there are the economical reasons, which manage to dissuade/delay even those people who do want children.

I don't want kids and none of my close friends, even those currently in well established LTRs, want them. We are all in our early 30s.

It's definitely recognized as a problem by governments, who need new drones to be able to sustain the socioeconomic system as it exists right now. There are all kinds of incentives that they try putting in place, but usually they don't work.

There is a shift in the culture and priorities, not to mention the future that doesn't look bright right now (climate change, water shortages and everything that will bring). Less humans is going to be good overall, but society needs to come up with new solutions of how to organize itself.

xFallacyx69 · 2021-10-25T16:44:09+00:00

Me and my GF are really well off and want kids…. But doing so would drop our asses to a way lower class. Fuck that, fuck any government who doesn’t incentivize two parent households

Mrs_Drgree · 2021-10-25T16:28:50+00:00

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clitorophagy · 2021-10-25T18:28:40+00:00

I wonder how the social demographics will change as the next generation comes up. The people who are choosing to have large families now seem to be more likely to be religious.

richardparadox163 · 2021-10-25T18:34:57+00:00

Do you have any stats for that? Of course there’s a lot of data about a growing number of people being reluctantly child free under 35 for economic reasons but I haven’t seen data about an increase in people being child free by choice and I don’t think either number has reached the level of “common.”

flamingoinghome · 2021-10-25T18:35:40+00:00

What I'm hearing is that it's become common to have kids in ones' mid-30s. Why is that weird or shocking?

squeamish · 2021-10-25T19:55:55+00:00

I think people are very widely overestimating it, especially if you're talking about people communicating online. It's still a fairly small fraction of the population, but if you get your news from Reddit you would think it's a quarter of the population.

peachycreaam · 2021-10-25T20:13:51+00:00

This has been the case for a long time imo. I know of several people over 50 who simply never had kids because of no desire or fertility/health issues. Social media just has a lot of cringe people making “childfree” their whole personality these days.

Pastelitomaracucho · 2021-10-26T06:44:52+00:00

It's not a movement. There's no agenda.

It's just a increasingly common lifestyle people are making a personal decision to partake on.

Of course,as always, people will want to band around it and call it a movement, but it isn't.

anonymouscausefuckU · 2021-10-26T11:22:36+00:00

People really are underestimating this. The numbers are already there, and the conclusions are pretty clear.

From what I’ve read only 39% of millennials have any children. Most millennials are now in their 30s. The average age to have children is still currently 27. So while the % of millennials with children will probably go up slightly overtime, it will most likely remain under 50% no matter how old millennials get. So we are already living in an era where less than half of child-bearing-age people are bearing children.

This follows the general pattern that began as soon as contraceptive pills became commercially available in the early 60s. Before then, every generation has had solid 90+% of people giving birth to children.

The #s have been going down gradually ever since. 75% of baby boomers have children, and 60% of Gen X-ers have children.

If the pattern continues, then the # of zoomers who ever have children will probably be somewhere around 25-30%.

We’re gradually heading towards an era where the only people in wealthy countries who have children will be members traditional religious groups.

manfrom-nantucket · 2021-10-26T17:24:25+00:00

Raising a kid in clown world is tantamount to child abuse.

Mrs_Drgree · 2021-10-25T16:23:53+00:00

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rredirt · 2021-10-25T17:36:55+00:00

I just call it another way of natural selection. They die, their genes disappear, nothing more than that.

cunningcaring · 2021-10-25T16:53:09+00:00

Go to an aquarium on a Saturday. Millions of little kids. You are worried for no reason.

BMTEJ · 2021-10-25T20:24:14+00:00

Cost of having children, having to balance career and kids in a system that wants you to work bullshit jobs with bullshit hours, without any break or incentive to have said kids.

The fact that divorce rates are through the roof because everyone has too many options in partners now. Cheating is through the roof as well. So you’re more likely to end up in a. custody battle than ever before.

If companies would quit the the BS work hours, pay people fairly, provide flexibility to parents, get rid of social media (including dating apps), and the government can provide incentives for expecting and current parents beyond, “hey here’s a tax break,” then maybe we ‘ll see children being born again.

Until then, can we expedite the collapse of society?

nick1812216 · 2021-10-25T23:32:03+00:00

With the advent and proliferation of contraceptives, i think a collapsing fertility rate was inevitable. People can have sex, without having kids. It’s perfect! We have more control and freedom in our lives. Perhaps eventually, after decades, maybe centuries of dwindling populations, technology will reach the point where laboratories can make test tube babies, and then childrearing/procreation will become a prerogative of the state. There’ll be a host of moral issues naturally. It’s all a bit Orwellian

Willow-girl · 2021-10-25T16:46:55+00:00

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2021-10-25T19:40:42+00:00

I dated in/grew up in a left-leaning hipster circle about 50 kids deep, and only a handful of them went on to have children. Either single mothers or found a tattooed step dad to help raise the kids. The rest have no children. Only ONE of the seven women I have been in a serious relationship with in my life has a kid. Again, single mom.

Family unit is gone, having children is over with. Yeah, this is going to be an issue. Btw, I am talking about a cohort of folks nearing 40, so imagine what the up and coming 20 year olds will be like?

tropicsGold · 2021-10-25T18:53:50+00:00

That is really sad because when people get older they are going to realize what an empty life that is, and by then it may be too late

superlurkage · 2021-10-25T19:19:09+00:00

I think you are confusing “having children much later” with “not having children at all”

TheBookOfSeil · 2021-10-25T16:38:21+00:00

Not really because women heavily rely on abortion to really be child free since they don't want to be consistent and stop having sex. All that would need to be done to stop that movement would be to get rid of abortion which the government could do if it really needed to.

AidsVictim · 2021-10-26T00:16:08+00:00

People are just chilling and enjoying life.

Sure. Just like the rich live off the labour of the masses the child free live off the labour (pun intended) of those who have children. It's a parasitic relationship and it's no coincidence that "child free" almost always describes bourgeoise types where family formation and the work of raising children is replaced by "chilling and enjoying life." These people do not represent a community, at least not a living vital one, they only represent social death, the endpoint of a suicidal self exterminating society where people can't even bothered to have children because it might interrupt their various modes of hedonism.

Of course that only describes about half the "child free" movement. The other half are psychologically damaged individuals so alienated from their own community identities and social bonds they're disgusted or frightened at the idea of its continuation.

Wildhouse83 · 2021-10-25T20:21:22+00:00

Probably more and more couples can not afford kids. Plus, more and more men are afraid to lose their kids through divorce.

angerproblemsTM · 2021-10-25T20:25:53+00:00

Are many men child free? I see mostly women not wanting children (not that it really matters I’m just curious to see if any men here are CF).

I have no interest in having biological kids but I’d like to foster and/or adopt. Only problem is that of course it’s a lengthy and expensive process. Will I ever be financially stable enough to do that? Probably not. So the thought goes down the drain. I’m currently getting three qualifications just to hopefully get a job that keeps me out of the low socioeconomic band, but the reality is I’ll likely never own be able to own property (I live in Australia and we have a very bad housing crisis here) unless I buy in a suburb where my tyres will be stolen every week or something. Even with three qualifications it’s unlikely if I’ll even get a decent job in 3 years time or so. I can’t even get an unpaid internship unless I’ve had 3+ years of experience nowadays.

Point is I just don’t think kids are a viable option now for a lot of people. And I’m saying that living in Australia where the minimum wage isn’t like $8 and student debt is a limiting factor (we still have debt but we start paying it off as part of our taxes once we start earning over a certain amount).

Eastuss · 2021-10-25T22:07:36+00:00

People are underestimating how much people used to be childfree and how much people will change their mind.

Physiologist21 · 2021-10-26T02:22:45+00:00

I mean it's only really popular with the types of people that shouldn't be having kids anyways so, I am all for it.

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Gabrielvrape · 2021-10-25T19:28:18+00:00

China increased its policy to three children. But most people can't afford it. So when we can afford children they want us to have less of them but when we can't they want us to have more. The elite's cognitive dissonance is superb.

DaphneDK42 · 2021-10-26T03:25:59+00:00

It's not even that they're actively childfree as much as they just chose to not have a kid.

Its not a movement any more than people breathing is a Breathing Movement.

I think the birth rate is going to collapse even more across the world (as it already is doing) much more than people think. Childfree couples get very little media representation, and the number will surprise people in the coming decades.

Breeders Revenge. We're merely going through one of those Darwinian bottlenecks species go through now and then. There is currently a very narrow and laser focused selection for people who for one reason or the other want and have children (can be genetic, religious, cultural, makes little difference). Those that aren't having children are removed from the common future of humanity and will have no input or influence in how the future is shaped. Once those individuals/sub cultures, have been weeded out, humanity will consist of descendents/surviving sub-cultures of those who chose to have children. Which will lead to a massive resurgence of the birth rate. This selection phase of the evolutionary process can happen surprisingly fast. A few generations. But yes, birthrate may dip a little lower. But we should start to see a resurgence towards perhaps as early as early next century.

2021-10-26T06:14:16+00:00

I see plenty of guys that are child free, but there are tons of single mothers out there. I can see how that could be a problem too if only the top 1% of men are making all the babies.

healththrow345 · 2021-10-26T08:28:22+00:00

Saw a video about this the other day on a redpill channel. Their conclusion was that in the future men will be fighting over the few young women born. They'd have to go abroad.

Atreiyu · 2021-10-26T12:45:24+00:00

It's because of the economic, political, and working climate, not because of a social trend.

People in developed countries only want children if they can sustain their current lifestyle with one.

Ohmaygahh · 2021-10-26T15:56:54+00:00

No. In fact, you should see what's being talked about in the marketing and research departments in various industries... they are BANKING on the ever increasing number of adults not procreating.

cccccclairee · 2021-10-26T18:12:49+00:00

I think there is a lot of us who put it off until we could afford it and that day never came. Now I’m close to 40 and chances aren’t looking good.

It was never super important to me to have kids so it makes it simple just to go with it. If it happens at this point, great, but if not, I’m ok with that. I wouldn’t really call myself child free, more child indifferent.

MadMick01 · 2021-10-27T01:51:08+00:00

Societally, I think it is best for people to pursue roles that suit them. For some, it’s parenthood. For others, it’s things like their profession, hobbies, or interests. I think we would live together much more harmoniously if people didn’t feel forced into roles that don’t suit them. Lots of bitter parents out there who feel like they were coerced into having kids by their partners or other family members. Not good for them and certainly not good for the children who didn’t have a day in the matter. Staying childfree is often the better choice.

2021-11-08T16:01:31+00:00

Any time I’ve tried to say I’m never having kids it’s always “you’ll change your mind when you meet the right man.” 🤦‍♀️ Like no I just think in today’s climate I don’t want to be in debt for having a child that I won’t be able to financially take care of. Also a child comes with other responsibilities I don’t want, nor do I have to take on. But I’m the bad guy for saying kids for me aren’t worth it. It’s called being responsible. But I think society has been convinced that having a child is a normal part of life because the govt want you to breed more workers for them. Call me a conspiracy theorist but that’s my theory on why women are pushed to have kids.

DannyBostonNetflix · 2021-11-23T16:41:18+00:00

Fewer people are having larger families and people are delaying marriage/kids. That being said, I think most people over 40 will have kids. Obviously, most young people under 30 aren’t parents. (In big cities)

2021-10-26T13:58:28+00:00

Childfree is cringe. You guys are desperate to make yourselves more accepted by conflating Childfree with childless.

I don't hear too many people, who simply don't have kids, referring to small children as "crotch goblins" or saying "I hate kids." It's actually not very common to detest kids, but it's the status quo in the Childfree crowd. Don't believe me, just go check out their subreddit. It's actually more dishonest than FDSers coming here and saying that "FDS is just about helping women get dates and relationships."

Title	People are underestimating the prevalence of the childfree movement
Author	friendlyfun147
Upvotes	227
Comments	435
Date	October 25, 2021 4:21 PM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/qfkd5r/people_are_underestimating_the_prevalence_of_the/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/people-are-underestimating-the-prevalence-of-the.1081894 https://theredarchive.com/post/1081894

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