The percentage of Americans having children is in long-term decline, falling most among educated White and Asian single women with higher incomes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
The percentage of women aged 15-44 who had ever had a biological child dropped from 54.9% in 2011-15 to 52.1% in 2015-19, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics estimated. The percentage of men dropped from 43.8% to 39.7% over the same periods.
“These fertility measures differed by education, marital status, household income relative to the poverty level, and Hispanic origin and race,” CDC statistician Gladys Martinez told The Washington Times.
Women who are unmarried, older, White or Asian, well-educated and wealthy drove the trend, according to the CDC. Those women were also the likeliest to have only one child if they had any at all.
In 2015-19, 79.2% of women aged 22-49 with only a high school degree had a biological child, compared to 56.3% of those with at least a bachelor’s degree.
Women who were Black or Hispanic, married, less educated and living in households with annual incomes at least 150% below the federal poverty level were likeliest to have kids.
During the last five-year period the CDC measured, women ages 15-49 with only a high school degree had an average of 2.6 children. Women with higher levels of education averaged between 1.1 and 1.8 children.
About a quarter of women with only a high school degree had four or more biological children, compared to 3.1% of those with at least a bachelor’s degree.
In 2015-19, 6.4% of women aged 15-49 with at least a bachelor’s degree had their first birth before age 20, compared to 57.5% of women without a high school degree.
Among men without a high school degree, 24% had a child by age 20, compared to 1% of those with at least a bachelor’s degree.

Washingtontimes