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.
\nThe 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\u2019s National Center for Health Statistics\u00a0estimated. The percentage of men dropped from 43.8% to 39.7% over the same periods.
\n\u201cThese fertility measures differed by education, marital status, household income relative to the poverty level, and Hispanic origin and race,\u201d CDC statistician Gladys Martinez told The Washington Times.
\nWomen 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.
\nIn 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\u2019s degree.
\nWomen 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.
\nDuring 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.
\nAbout 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\u2019s degree.
\nIn 2015-19, 6.4% of women aged 15-49 with at least a bachelor\u2019s degree had their first birth before age 20, compared to 57.5% of women without a high school degree.
\nAmong men without a high school degree, 24% had a child by age 20, compared to 1% of those with at least a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n