Apparently in 2030, 45% of women ages 25–44 will be single and childfree. Do you think this will happen?

[YouAreNotBatman]

https://medium.com/hello-love/study-predicts-45-of-women-will-be-single-by-2030-1fbc99bad6a8

Came across this article.
And as much as I (single/childfree woman) would like this to be true, just so there would be more like-minded people and the stigma of being single and childfree woman would lessen.

I really don’t think this is going to happen.
Most people are still higgly conventional and traditions seem to stick in strong.

And also: putting young age 25 is jist silly, by the next 5-10 years most of those women will be married/have kids.
And what I’ve seen happening in dating life is that labels have changed, but it’s still the same old, same old.
Many insist they are ’casual’ or have areagment or new word for dating, but they are basically just plain old dating/in a relationship.

Don't see why not, birth rates are really low already

I would have liked to get married and have DC
Can't afford a child on my own so I won't have children as I'm too old really now

Never met a man to settle down with, and after the last shit show where he faked being single for 10 months, I don't really want to date again

people will still pair up but marriage & children are ££££

I certainly think the number of births will reduce. But it should - there are too many people in the world and we need to reduce the population before climate disasters start killing us off.

In the west it's because of people living longer, do you suggest we cull old people?

And I'm not that odd looking but when you put it together and get tall/size 16 so fat/red hair/glasses I start dropping down the list of what men want and my pool of men gets a lot smaller

Went on a dating website and it was all
"Looking for petite blonde, size 6-10, 30 or younger, must have own job and home"
Then you click the profile and he's 55 living at home with a football shirt and a fish in his hand

Why not? It's not expensive to have children (assuming no IVF etc). Society is set up to help families. Free education and healthcare. Benefits for those who need them. The main cost is childcare or decreased earnings in the first few years. Now there is going to be free childcare from age 1, even less so.

It may require sacrifices of expensive holidays and other lifestyle choices but having children is not unaffordable by any stretch.

@SnackSizeRaisin are you old? Housing costs are prohibitive as is childcare costs & that's before you get onto the impact on your career. Education & healthcare is not free to many, it's funded by tax which is at the highest burden since WW2 & is likely to only increase.

Many of the factors that have compelled women to partner up or have kids in the past become less influential (over certain demographic groups or women) over time, and I suspect that trend will continue. They say that the more educated a woman gets, the less likely she is to have kids at all. Says a lot, really.

Of course. High levels of marriage and large families tend to correlate with low levels of female education, autonomy and wealth. The wealthier and more intelligent and educated women are, the less children they tend to have.

As PPs have mentioned, marriage disproportionately benefits men and as women are increasingly likely to be financially autonomous marriage becomes less and less attractive.

(Some) women will always want children but they will have fewer children and have need less and less to be dependent on a man to provide for them.

I personally really welcome this. I think marriage and children has been hugely oversold to women. There will obviously always be some people whom it suits but I think the idea that it should be normative for all women and that those who don't achieve it are in some way defective will fade away. And good riddance to it.

I think now that people have choice and see how many different ways you can live a full life, only those who feel the proper urge will have kids (and I think only a minority feel that urge

Yes, I have younger relatives with great lifestyles who have no desire to change that & why should they, they have full lives already.

ONS estimates £25000 to raise one child. That does not include private school fees if selected.

I hope it isn’t that bad. No future taxpayers to fund old age pensions.

We are in already, natural population is declining. only immigrants propping us up. A largely older population & a system like the NHS just cannot work...

Governments will end up having to pay women a full-time wage to be mothers or they won't have children at all.

You're right, other countries have tried & failed though.

If we’re looking at the age group 25-44, then surely it will be much higher than just 45% by 2030?

I mean just looking at the situation in 2023, most women age 25-32 don’t have children, then the % declines gradually over 33-44 with around 1 in 5 women never having children.

The question is will it still be 20% child-free or higher by 2030? My bet is definitely on higher. Life is just so much better for women these days and many are deciding that they don’t want to give up their fantastic life for the sake of motherhood.

And as much as I (single/childfree woman) would like this to be true, just so there would be more like-minded people and the stigma of being single and childfree woman would lessen.

This is outdated nonsense surely? what stigma

The Total Fertility Rate has also dropped, tot he extent that right wing MPS are frothing about it

Hah the same party who spent decades, DECADES telling women like me not to have children that we couldnt afford. Anyone remember the infamous Peter Lilley speech from the early "90s??! And now they have the absolute temerity to whine now that the reckoning might have to be paid!

I suppose im what some would call lower class. I live in social housing ( a one bedroom flat ive been in since "94) I saw what my fellow working class women went through having kids and by the time i was 21 i KNEW for sure i didnt want a life of drudgery. Sorry but thats the way i felt then and now. And @fitzwilliamdarcy makes an excellent point. A lot of child free women are actually WORSE off financially.
We also have less chance of social housing (im speaking collectively) So i guess its an easier life not to have kids in some ways but if you have no kids AND are lower down the socio economic scale its a poky little flat or bedsit if you are lucky.

Yes the exact same tossers.

@Piggywaspushed Its pure gaslighting

Most people with access to contraception have children if they feel their lives are comfortable enough to. Out society is quite hostile towards children, there are few safe spaces to play anymore, and everything is tremendously expensive (evening you don't have children). Which I think are the main reasons people are not having as many.

Absolutely - life is fantastic for so many people now. Filled with travel, great friendships, better sex, career fulfilment, exercise & wellness, continuous learning (podcasts, youtube etc.), more free time to focus on self-actualisation.

Increasingly people are not willing to give all that up for the tedium and drudgery of raising children.

I myself am on the fence about having children, but I can 100% understand why someone would remain child-free.

oh, depopulation here we come😶

I'm 50 and chose not to have children (although I'm happily married and DH was willing). I have a good job that I work hard at and that benefits society. I also have to do the things that every adult has to do - keep the house reasonably clean, shop and cook, deal with insurance and bank accounts, etc. However the rest of my time is for me. I enjoy my freedom to do what I like without having to feed, dress, and entertain anyone else. Motherhood looks like pure drudgery to me with little reward. Instead of going to soft play or the latest minions film I can read, listen to music, go for weekend trips, exercise, watch what I like, go for dinner with DH or with friends whenever I want, live where I like, etc, etc.

For the past year we've been hosting a lovely Ukranian family - a mum and two children. The mum is brilliant and the children are well behaved but observing at close hand there's no way I would want to do what she does. The sheer number of demands and constant "mama, mama" in a whiny voice alone would do my head in completely.

I guess my point is that some women like me are just not meant to be mothers. I have almost no maternal instincts and don't think this makes me a bad person - I'm a great friend, sister, daughter and colleague etc. Thank goodness it's getting more acceptable for women not to have children as I know I'd be miserable if I'd done so and I'm guessing my children would have been also.

Isin’t crazy how childfree women have to note that they are great people though @Tootootoot ?
I’m sure you are lovely, but why do people without kids have to list that they are kind and considered people?
It’s not like all parents are automatically good people…

Same goes to being single, we’re ’supposed’ to have amazing careers, millions of fantastic friends, traveling and great adventures and eternally self-sacrificing, wothout ever asking anything back.
Why?
I’m totally average, probably boring person, I like quiet and peace. Hence the choices that I’ve made.

@YouAreNotBatman The beauty of getting older is i care less and less what people think of me.

I've done all that as well as having kids. Never saw it as a choice of having a good life OR having kids.

@YouAreNotBatman I agree with this. If you are single and childless, people expect that you either have a high flying career or that you love to travel. If neither of these are true like in my case, people just don't know what to make of you.

Some people are totally right to not have children, but I think there's some extreme stereotypes on either sides used for the argument to have / not have them.
I put off having them til I was 37 and my mum warned me against it etc. i had the best life and was concerned about losing it, But I have a totally brilliant partner, it's completely 50/50. I have a high flying career, just done an extra degree because I fancied it, we go for dinner alone together every week, plenty of time for fitting in gym and tennis etc. we travelled extensively before children and now pick holidays with great kids clubs they have been brought up to be well behaved while out for dinner together etc etc there's just not the drudgery that gets mentioned. so it does seem a shame to me if some people are put off on the belief that they have to give up live if they had them.