More Than One-Third of Teenagers Don’t Want Children in the Future, Study Finds

Undated file image of a baby sleeping in a cot. FamVeld/Shutterstock

More than one-third (36 percent) of 16- to 18-year-olds say they do not want children in the future, citing concerns including climate change and global instability, according to a survey.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) conducted an online survey of 931 year 12 and 13 pupils across 20 schools in England between May 10, 2021, and July 29, 2022, on matters relating to parental intentions and reproductive education.

UCL’s study published in the journal Human Fertility on Monday found that of the 931 young people surveyed, 338 said they did not want to have children.

Researchers identified five themes when respondents asked why they did not want to reproduce: global instability; negative associations with pregnancy and childbirth; being apprehensive over the prospect of parenthood; alternative routes to parenthood, namely adoption; and the opinion that children are an inconvenience.

“Students felt nervous about the present world situation as a result of capitalist societies, global warming, overpopulation, the cost-of-living crisis, the political climate, and the lack of women’s rights, promoting them to not want to have children,” the study said, quoting respondents as questioning the ethical implications of bringing children into an “unsafe,” “deteriorating,” “cruel,” and “dangerous” world.

“The state of the world is in shambles. Governments are corrupt. The environment is deteriorating … it would be cruel to put a child through any of our problems, especially since they are not getting better,” said one female respondent.

Girls Fear Pregnancy and Childbirth

The study also noted that female pupils had concerns that pregnancy would cause “permanent damage to their body” and feared the effects that childbirth would have on their mental health, with one girl calling the process of childbirth “terrifying.” Some youths said they would adopt children in order to avoid the mental and physical stresses of pregnancy.

“Students also expressed never feeling the need to have children and stated that children can be ‘very annoying,’ ‘inconvenient,’ and ‘loud.’ Some students said that they would rather have a pet instead of having children,” the report said.

While the majority, 64 percent, said they wanted children in the future, nearly half (45 percent) of those said they were worried about the prospect, with girls substantially more likely than boys to say they had concerns.

Similar themes arose to those from the set who did not want to have children, including fear of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as concerns about finances, fertility, divorce, “climate change,” and “overpopulation.”

Teens Ill-Informed About Fertility

Senior author Professor Joyce Harper, from the UCL EGA Institute for Women’s Health, said: “Sadly, a number of female students expressed a lack of interest in future parenthood due to their fears about pregnancy and childbirth.

“Shortcomings in fertility education in schools also meant that students were left feeling both ill-informed and negative towards their own fertility and ability to have children.”

The second study based on the survey results, published in Health Education Journal, found that pupils wanted more information in sex education class about how to have a healthy pregnancy—not just how to avoid pregnancy. Almost half (49 percent) of respondents said they did not know when a woman was most fertile.

The government made relationships, sex, and health education (RSHE) compulsory in secondary schools in England from Sept. 2020.

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesman said: “By the time students enter post-16 settings, they will already have had a number of years of compulsory lessons on relationships, health and sex education (RSHE) and science, which covers topics including menstruation, contraception, fertility and the menopause.

“We are also currently considering a recommendation from the Women and Equalities Select Committee to make RSHE compulsory for young people in post-16 settings.”

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data published in August 2023 revealed that birth rates in England and Wales in 2022 were at their lowest for two decades.

In 2021, the total number of children born per woman—the total fertility rate (TFR)—was 1.55 in England and Wales. This is compared to 2.93 in the UK at the end of the Second World War.

The UK’s TFR has been well below the required “replacement level” of 2.1 since the 1970s; once the TFR is below 2.1, a country’s population will start to decrease. Author and demographer Paul Morland told The Epoch Times in May 2023 that politicians should be tackling low fertility, rather than turning to immigration to prevent a population collapse.

Speaking to NTD’s Lee Hall for the “British Thought Leaders” programme in July 2023, Mr. Morland cited the values of young people in his prediction of whether a reversal in fertility decline was likely, saying: “I don’t think we’re going to shift our fertility rates, in fact on the contrary. When I look at the values of Generation Z, and the priorities they have, and their outlook on the world I don’t associate that with higher fertility. I associate it with low fertility.”

PA Media contributed to this report.