It’s no secret that rising costs are devastating Americans right now, and that young people are feeling the brunt of it. For the generation currently starting families, these costs are particularly stressful. Undoubtedly, the prospect of pinching pennies to pay for astronomical labor and delivery bills, car seats, formula, and strollers on top of life’s basic necessities is too significant to bear, causing some to forego having children in the first place.

“It’s just crazy right now,” one would-be mother said in a recent New York Times interview. “I have always told my husband, like, if we were rich, I would definitely have kids.”

Why Aren’t Young Couples Actually Having Kids?

But do such financial hardships truly account for our plummeting birth rates?

Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse went viral this week, bemoaning the fact that Americans are foregoing children because they’ve “decided that being distracted by a dopamine hit around Candy Crush might be a good way to spend your time.” Folks were quite angry by this comment. Rising gas costs, lack of paid parental leave, and expensive childcare are the real reasons adults aren’t having children, they argued.

Yet that’s not what statistics say.

In 2024, Pew Research surveyed childless adults. Infertility, wanting to focus on “other things,” or lack of the right partner were among the reasons for not having children. The cost of children was on the list, but hardly on the top.

Almost 40% of childless adults age 50 or older said the top reason they didn’t have kids was because “it just never happened.” Childless adults under 50 listed their top reason for not planning to have kids as “they just don’t want to.” Indeed, for adults over 50, that reason accounted for 31% of those surveyed, compared to 57% of respondents under 50.

Economic concerns admittedly ranked higher for those under 50 than those over, but didn’t even make it into the top three reasons. Only 12% of adults over 50 chose “couldn’t afford to raise a child” as their reason, and still only 36% of those under 50 chose that reason.

It seems that young people mostly don’t want kids because they don’t see why they should want them. In other words, young people believe the proponents of kids bear the burden of proof, while those over 50 found some tangible reason (however faulty) for their childlessness.

Alleviating the economic hardships of young Americans to encourage childbearing and to ease the burden of those with children is surely a worthwhile cause. But it won’t fix our birth rate.

It’s Time to Encourage Young Families

In order to encourage young people to have kids, we must address the real reason they aren’t having them. They’re simply not sure if they’re valuable – economically, socially, or relationally.

Regarding the economic front, young people should realize that more kids were born in worse conditions throughout history. That’s not to dismiss the economic woes of this generation, but they simply aren’t at the level yet that should keep anyone from having children.

Socially speaking, it is true that communities don’t welcome children and the chaos and joy they bring like they once did. Public spaces often shun children and their parents. Child-free spaces are considered the right of every childless adult. But the way to fix that isn’t to reinforce our willfully-barren society in their efforts to avoid having children. Instead, the more children there are in a community, the more that community will have to adapt to their presence.

On the relational aspect, consider that children will love you, and you will love them, in the most selfless and pure way one can be loved by another human. They will show you how fulfilling a life lived for others can be. With each child, your capacity for love will simply expand. In your old age, they will be the living legacy that carries you in your twilight years.

Yes, children are worth every cent.

—

This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.

Image credit: Pexels