5.7 Million More U.S. Women Than Expected Were Childless in 2024

THURSDAY, Sept. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — In 2024, there were 5.7 million more childless women aged 20 to 39 years than would have been expected based on prior patterns, according to a study published online Sept. 3 in a University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy Brief.

Kenneth M. Johnson, from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, examined shifts in childbearing and fertility patterns in the United States based on data from 2006 through 2024.

Johnson noted that 23.1 million (52 percent) of the 44.2 million women aged 20 to 39 years in the United States in 2024 had not yet given birth. Based on fertility patterns prior to the Great Recession, there were 5.7 million more childless women of prime childbearing age than would have been expected. Had these fertility patterns continued, 4.4 million (25 percent) and 1.3 million (15 percent) more women aged 20 to 39 years would have had at least two children and would have had a single child in 2024, respectively. In the past 17 years, there were 11.8 million fewer babies as a result of shifts in childbearing and fertility patterns. There were 10 percent more women aged 20 to 39 years in 2024 than in 2006, but the proportion who had never had a child was 45 percent higher.

“The critical question is what kind of impact will this have on society,” Johnson said in a statement. “The substantial rise in the proportion of childless women contributes to something called the “demographic cliff” where the decision to not have children could have significant implications for health care, schools, child-related businesses and eventually for the labor force.”

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