It’s a statistical fact that not having children is more common among Millennials than in previous generations. Fewer individuals in this generation have become parents compared to past ones.
That has led to a lot of hand-wringing by people who lament the passage of time and basically any changes that take place from one generation to the next.
It does lead to an interesting question, though: why do so many Millennials not want to become parents?
You can answer that question in many ways, since if you ask several different Millennials why they decided not to have kids, you would probably get several different responses.
However, you’ll start to see certain patterns in their responses, and this does indicate some amount of agreement in this group’s thinking.
Let’s take some time now to talk about some of the main reasons why not having children is a more common choice among Millennials than those who came before.
It’s a Dangerous World
Let’s start with a group of Millennials who say they don’t want to become parents because they feel it’s a dangerous world right now. There’s always perils in the world of one kind or another.
Still, some Millennials who might otherwise have children at this point in their lives don’t want to do it because they see more danger than normal when they look at what’s around them.
For some, it’s a matter of breaking down car crash accident stats or seeing an uptick in school shootings. Others might point to the many who died during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic a few years ago.
Some might say they don’t want kids because of political strife in America right now. Others might bring up climate change or intolerance toward certain groups of people.
In short, there’s a rather large category of Millennials who seem to shy away from becoming parents because they feel like they don’t want to bring any more humans into a world that seems increasingly hostile.
Some individuals, mostly from other generations, might say it’s being selfish to not want to procreate. For instance, parents of many Millennials who belong to the Boomer generation may complain about not having any grandchildren.
However, while those Boomer parents might call Millennials not having children selfish, the Millennials call it noble instead.
They argue that choosing not to have children is an act of compassion, sparing future generations from the hardships they believe are inevitable.
Some also feel that bringing a child into an unstable world would only add to their personal anxieties, making parenting an overwhelming responsibility.
Instead of seeing parenthood as a duty, they view their decision as a thoughtful and ethical response to modern challenges.
When they look at what they perceive as a dangerous world, they’re elected not to inflict it on any new humans. They may regard not having children as selfless for that reason.
Some Millennials Don’t Want the Responsibility
There’s another subcategory of Millennials who don’t want kids, and they have an entirely different reason. If you ask them, they may simply tell you that they don’t want the responsibility involved with the whole endeavor.
These Millennials have now reached adulthood, and maybe they’re mostly concerned each day with handling everything that goes into that. Many of them feel like they have plenty on their plates without adding the additional pressure of becoming a parent and needing to take care of a child.
If they have a little downtime, they may want to spend it hanging out with their friends, going to a movie, heading to a concert, or something of that nature.
They know that, realistically, they would have a much harder time doing those kinds of things if they had a child or children for whom they had to care.
These Millennials usually have no trouble telling you that they don’t want kids because they don’t want the responsibility of taking care of them.
Adults from a previous generation might have had a much harder time admitting that, since it was taboo in society to say that you didn’t want children. Now, though, you can say that in polite conversation without having to worry that you made a faux pas.
Some Don’t Believe They Have Enough Money
There’s another group of Millennials who seem more open to having kids. Maybe they will even tell you that they want to have them at some point. At the moment, though, they’re using birth control very carefully because they don’t think they can afford children right now.
Some of these Millennials have married their partner, or they’re living with them in monogamous relationships. They love each other, and in most ways, they’re in an ideal spot in their lives to have children.
It’s just a lack of money that’s the problem. These individuals presumably don’t have wealthy relatives who might help them if they have children, and then the new parents can’t get the kids everything they need because they’re strapped for cash.
Maybe they’re already working multiple jobs, but they don’t pay very well, so these Millennials already struggle to pay their bills.
Perhaps this group can afford to have kids one day. For the moment, though, they’re purposefully trying to avoid it because they look at their meager bank accounts and think that what they see there can’t realistically support a child.
Some Don’t Want to Perpetuate Troublesome Parenting Trends
There’s one more group of Millennials who don’t want kids who we should discuss. This group doesn’t want to have any children because they feel their own parents didn’t raise them very well.
If you look at this group, you will often see that they’re in therapy at the moment, or they went through a cycle of therapy at some point in their lives. When they did, they came to the conclusion that they didn’t appreciate various aspects of how their parents brought them up.
If you feel that you do not like the way your parents raised you, then if you have your own kids, you might swear you will act differently.
However, maybe this group of Millennials feels that they don’t trust themselves to break the cycle of poor parenting, despite their best intentions.
Rather than risking it, they’re electing not to have children. By breaking the cycle, they’re guaranteeing that they won’t make the same mistakes their parents did.
Millennials Are Not Having Children
The decision to not have children is a deeply personal one, and Millennials are making this choice for a variety of reasons—concerns about the world’s dangers, a desire to avoid parental responsibilities, financial limitations, or a reluctance to repeat harmful parenting patterns.
While older generations may question or even criticize this shift, Millennials see it as a logical response to the challenges they face.
Ultimately, not having children is not just a trend—it’s a reflection of evolving priorities, values, and realities that shape modern adulthood.
