Why fewer people are planning to have kids | About That

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Do you want kids that’s a pretty sensitive question right for a lot of people and maybe now more than ever do I really want this because kids are the ultimate decision there is a no return policy on that why is it so permanent how am I supposed to make that

Decision like in the US for example a new survey suggests only about half of people between the ages of 18 and 34 say yes I want to be a parent now maybe that number alone is is n shocking but compare it to 2003 when 86% of Americans

In that age group said they wanted kids that’s a pretty big shift over just a couple of decades and in Canada it’s not all that different when young adults here were asked in a survey a couple of years ago how many kids they planned on having 34% said none but a similar

Question in 2001 only around 7% of Canadians in the same age group said the the same thing there has been a significant change in the proportion of people saying that they don’t want to have children at all raising a kid back then and raising a kid now are two very

Different times now neither of these two surveys asked people why they didn’t think they’d become parents but a lot of people have been trying to figure out the answer to that question over the past few years the reasons obviously vary a lot from person to person but

There are a few factors that stick out let’s start with an American study from a few years ago that tried to tackle the question head-on asking those people between 18 and 49 who said they weren’t likely to have kids why just over half said they just don’t want to the other

Half gave a bit more detail citing everything from medical reasons to climate change to the state of the world this current generation just doesn’t have the level of certainty that previous generations have so there’s a lot of people kind of saying I don’t know I’m going to postpone and think

About it and see what happens but there are a couple of reasons in there in particular that stood out to us that show up repeatedly in Canadian data too including the 15% who listed no partner now of course having a partner isn’t required to have a kid and a growing

Number of single people are doing it alone but most people still prefer to be part of a team if they want to have children they don’t want to do it completely alone they want to have a partner to share this with and finding someone who you want to form a long-term

Partnership with whether mared or common law is taking people longer and longer it’s not entirely clear why it’s taking people longer and longer but the dating world has changed a lot over the past couple of decades think about this you can go on three dates with someone and

Have an amazing time and then never hear from them again a lot of the times apps lead us to undervalue people that we’d actually like in real life and overvalue people we wouldn’t give a second thought to like I know people that have met the love of their life on these apps but

Also like the overwhelming sentiment toward these apps is they don’t work a few years ago Pew asked those who were single and looking to rate how their dating life was going 75% said it’s been very or somewhat difficult to find a partner in the past year because they had trouble approaching people trouble

Finding someone who want the same type of relationship or just finding someone who meets their expectations about half of those respondents also agreed that dating has become more difficult over the past decade they look around and they see that it’s taking people a long time and that makes them question

Whether they’re going to find that partner uh and then ultimately have children together and maybe saying this maybe isn’t going to happen for me another reason on that list of reasons not to see kids in one’s future was Financial children are expensive and they’re even more expensive in industrialized nations in Canada a

Recent report tried to put a number on just how expensive so let’s take a middle-income two parent two child household just as an example since stats Canada found that was the most common Dynamic their report estimates a family in that category can expect to pay an average of 750 ,000 raising those two

Kids from birth to age 22 so that’s if you add up food clothes education Child Care Transportation everything even accounting for the extra you’d pay for a bigger home right each extra bedroom per child and when you factor in all those things it adds up just the base cost of

Feeding clothing educating a child is Out Of Reach um and I can’t imagine bringing a child into the world that I could afford to help Thrive and here’s the thing that study used data from 2014 to 2017 since then the cost of pretty much everything has gone up we’re seeing

These Trends everywhere where we see increased education rates where we see more expensive housing and and things like that children have just become more expensive so surprise surprise that same report suggests more than half of young Canadians who were considering kids did not think or were un sure if they could

Afford to have one in the next 3 years affordability concerns and lack of access to suitable housing were more recently cited as factors influencing the fertility intentions of Canadians in particular among those AG 20 to 29 prenatal care doctor’s appointments the hospital bills then after the baby’s

Actually born you have you know diapers food wipes clothes is out here trying to survive my on my own you know what I mean it is expensive there is an expectation among society and employers probably more importantly that know if a woman has children her job will no

Longer be her priority and this is a measurable cost we know that women who have children earn less than women who don’t and one more thing about cost if your parents ever told you back in my day we just went outside and climbed trees until it got dark and meanwhile

You’re zipping back and forth between soccer and gymnastics and swimming and piano if you can even afford that you know the expectations on parents have changed there’s much more pressure coming from society to enroll your kids in multiple after school programs to provide them with additional things that

Kids 20 30 40 years ago weren’t having people have always wanted to be good parents and provide everything that they possibly can for their kids but I do think we’re seeing increasing social pressure to uh provide more I would love the conversation to stop being don’t

Have kids till you can afford them what does that mean that is so subjective afford what so those were some of the most common reasons given for not having kids in that survey but it still feels like something’s missing doesn’t it because if we come back to that pie chart for a

Second remember 56% of people said they weren’t likely to have kids because they just don’t want to how can we explain that randomly my husband will look over at me and be like you want to take a train to Paris this weekend yes do what you want have kids don’t have kids but

Here me when I say you can live a fulfilled life without them there is no evidence that having children makes people happier um and I think that that for young people I think they recognize that and so they are prioritizing other things a 2023 survey asked Americans to

Rank what they considered most important to them in order to live a fulfilling life number three was having children but ahead of kids were two other factors and they both commanded a lot more enthusiasm number two was having close friends now that’s something that is according to the researchers we spoke to

A pretty noticeable shift from previous generations this generation actually really values their free time their leisure time they spend more time socializing in previous generations and so they’re not really clear they want to give up on those those elements of their lives in order to have children I love

Indulging my inner child if I had kids all of my time would be spent focusing on their schedule focusing on their needs focusing on all the stuff that helps make them successful humans as opposed to myself and the number one factor people considered extremely important for living a fulfilling life

Was having a job or career they enjoy and that was true for both men and women it may be that historically the stress on Career would have been framed as in I want to have this good career because I need to be able to support my family now

We’re hearing people talk about it more about their own personal satisfaction about it you can be ambitious and have kids I’m not saying you can’t um but my business is my baby it takes up so much time en energy stress I just couldn’t do

That and have a kid it is now okay in society to choose to not have kids so you can talk about making this Choice oh I want to pursue my career and not have kids and that’s okay now to be clear all of these studies we’re talking about are

Capturing people’s intentions at a single point in time it’s impossible to know how many of them will change their minds the number of women over 50 without children has been rising steadily in both Canada and the United States over the past decade and stats can projects the financial reasons

Holding people back in particular will do much to shape what future Generations look like

Research suggests a significant shift over the last two decades in the number of North American adults who are planning on having kids. Andrew Chang explores three main reasons for the generational change.

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34 COMMENTS

  1. Alot low income family can't even offered after school programs. Sadly it hurts alot of children.
    Lot people do want their freedom.
    It's hard to balance children n career lot of jobs don't allow u to grow if u got children. So it hurts your goal.????
    But alot of fathers are not involved??

  2. Many of us would love to have kids, it's just not happening with the cost of living. Significant elements of this cost of living crisis can be addressed right now, if the three levels of government (though primarily the federal) would be willing to act.

  3. Love this! Great breakdown of facts! I have 2 kids and a happy marriage. Not always rosy as it is stressful raising young kids and working full time so I understand some of the points covered in this video. But we love our kids very much and we would do it all over again if we could ??

  4. Yeah no thank you. Setting aside the financial affordability, there are many things wrong with society that would worry me as a parent. Social media influence, cyber bullying, schools and the govt. system having the ability to take away your kids because they don't agree with your cultural way of disciplining kids. Yeah no thanks. I don't want to subscrive to any of that.

  5. I was still too immature to know if I wanted kids or not in my twenties. There is too much else to figure out in that time. However, after those years I got married and we realized it was what we wanted, so we have a daughter and a son, now in their twenties. Having them is the greatest joy, we wouldn't give up the experience for anything! But it was a financial strain for a long time as I inadvertantly gave up my vocation due to the decision to stay home with the kids. There was no reliable daycare where we lived, so I became daycare for another family, welcoming their child into our home. After 4 years of doing daycare, I was not welcomed back into the workforce & experienced a lot of age and other discrimination in spite of having solid admin experience. A global recession didn't help me either. I ended up in low paying employment far beneath my skills – this was depressing and emotionally and physically debilitating. Costs were rising, there was more month than money. It was not what we imagined for the age that we were. Husband and I are now in our sixties, our parents have passed, I've not worked for 6 years due to Covid, family responsibilities, health issues, etc. The biggest blessing financially is that we have clear title on our townhouse and are almost off our l.o.c. Unfortunately we had to move to another community to achieve this, and the kids have to drive 40 minutes south every day for jobs, school and friends. I'm feeing mentally stronger and will be looking for work soon. But our 2 twenty somethings have uncertain futures.It seems they won't ever be able to afford their own homes, let alone rent. My point is, what are we living for if everything we need to live is out of reach financially and having children is an economic decision, which it shouldn't be? I cannot imagine life without my daughter and son?

  6. This video is true as children are expensive from birth-through college until an established adult & children are time-consuming 365/24/7

    Our kids are still the best part of life

    And yes we own a business & travel so don’t listen to this video about that ?

  7. COST OF LIVING is the main issue .. How can people afford to have kids if they can feed themselves first?!
    Costs 1M for a match-box size puny apartment is NOT going to fit a family of 3 or 4…?

  8. People who site climate change, state of the world, cost, etc…just admit you also don't prioritize kids over your living standards/QOL. People less well off than you currently in this country having kids and history has natural disasters, World Wars, the Depression, etc.

  9. Andrew Chang disappoints yet again with his lack of reporting. What a shallow/useless piece using TikTok "dummies/influencers". Andrew along with these TikTokers couldn't influence themselves out of a paper bag. Not everyone needs $325,000 to raise a child & how some people manage that would have made the piece more balanced. But Andrew Chang isn't that creative or bright. Grade for Andrew Change & the CBC – F- FAILED

  10. The world is going to end up facing the problem that Japan and China are facing where they don’t have enough people to replace the aging workforce. My wife’s and I personally cannot afford to have a child right now even if we wanted to. All the stressors of affordability are already weighing down on us. Now we have to deal with job cuts in our sectors where we are unsure of our job security now. How can we justify raising a child when we can barely afford to keep things afloat now?

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