Population Division
U.S. Bureau of the Census
Washington, D.C. 20233
May 1999
Population Division Working Paper No. 37
This paper was originally presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America(PAA), New York, NY, March 1999.
DISCLAIMER:
This paper reports the general results of research and analysis under taken by Census Staff. It has undergone a more limited review than official Census Bureau publications. This report is released to inform interested parties of research and to encourage discussion.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ABSTRACT
Is Childlessness Among American Women on the Rise?
The purpose of this paper is to examine the trends in childlessness from 1980
to 1998 and to identify which socioeconomic groups have experienced the most
significant changes. Childlessness among married couples today is no longer
an uncommon situation. Compared to past decades, women are marrying and having
their first birth much later in life. Among women in the childbearing
years, postponement of marriage and childbearing is viewed as pathway to a good
job and economic independence. The cost of raising a child, and the
availability and affordability of child care have further promoted
childlessness among women.
Data from the selected June fertility supplements of Current Population Survey
(CPS) will be used to study the trends in childlessness among these women. The
characteristics associated with childlessness will be examined using the 1998
CPS to highlight current group differences.
Childlessness Among Women 40 to 44 Years Old by Marital
Status
Childlessness among all women 40 to 44 years old increased from 10 percent in
1980 to 19 percent in 1998. Among ever-married women, childlessness doubled
from 7 percent in 1980 to 14 percent in 1998, however, it declined among never
married women from 79 percent in 1980 to 67 percent in 1998.
Demographic Characteristics of Childless Women 40 to 44 Years Old
by Race and Ethnicity: 1998
Among ever-married women, levels of childlessness are not different between
White and Black women. However, White never-married women have childless levels
more than twice as high as Black women. Regardless of marital status, Hispanic
women had lower levels of childlessness than non-Hispanic women.
Demographic Characteristics of Childless Women 40 to 44 years old by
Education, Occupation and Family Income: 1998
Regardless of marital status, women who had the highest levels of education,
those engaged in managerial and professional occupations, and those who lived
in families with highest family incomes, experienced the highest levels of
childlessness.
Demographic Characteristics of Childless Women 40 to 44 Years Old by
Region, Nativity Status and Place of Birth: 1998
Women living in the West and Northeast had the highest levels of childlessness,
regardless of marital status.
Foreign-born women had lower levels of childlessness compared with Native-born
women regardless of marital status.
Ever married-women born in Mexico, who represent one-half of all women born in
Latin America, experienced lower levels of childlessness compared to women born
in the United States.
Trends in Childless among Women 40 to 44 Years Old: 1980 to
1998
Although there were large increases in the levels of childless among women 40
to 44 years old between 1980 and 1990, further increases were small among
successive baby boom cohorts.
The proportion of White women who were childless doubled from 10 percent in
1980 to 20 percent in 1998 compared with an increase of from 11 and 17 percent
for Black women for the same period.
The largest increase in childlessness occurred among women with less than
Bachelor's education compared to women in other educational categories.
In general, employed women showed substantial increases in childlessness since
1980 regardless of their occupational status.
Fertility and Family Statistics Branch
Author: Amara Bachu
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Created: September 3, 1999
Last Revised: October 31, 2011 at 10:03:16 PM