More Women without Children

The report, released in June 2010 by the Pew Research Center, finds that nearly 1 in 5 American women in her early 40s is childless. This is a sharp increase from the 1970s, when 1 in 10 women did not have children by ages 40 to 44.

Researchers say social and cultural shifts prompted the change. Childlessness has risen for all racial and ethnic groups and most educations levels, with one notable exception: childlessness has fallen over the past decade for women with advanced degrees. In 2008, 24 percent of women ages 40 to 44 with a master’s, doctoral or professional degree had not had children, a decline from 31 percent in 1994.

Data from the report are from the June fertility supplement of the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The report uses the standard measure of childlessness at the end of childbearing years, which is the share of women ages 40 to 44 who have not had any children.
 

Read the report.