About three quarters of America’s youngest adults believe they can lead fulfilling lives without children — the highest share of any generation on record.
That staggering statistic comes from Barna’s newly minted study on adults in Generation Z, those born between 1999 and 2015. The survey, “The State of Today’s Family,” reveals they are delaying marriages because of economic concerns and emotional stressors.
“Young adults today report high levels of anxiety, uncertainty, and emotional complexity in their daily lives — factors that may shape how they approach long-term decisions like marriage,” researchers noted. “Rising costs of housing, education, and daily life likely add to that calculus, making the timing of marriage feel consequential in a way it may not have for earlier generations.”
The group questioned more than 3,500 adults in August 2024 and found that 74% of Gen Z respondents said they can have fulfilling lives without kids and just 67% said marriage is critical for raising children in a stable environment, marking the lowest percentage among any surveyed generation.
According to the just-released data, many young adults in the U.S. are rethinking the philosophy of previous generations, which seemed to value entering into marriages at young ages. Instead, Gen Z adults are placing greater priority on emotional readiness, financial stability, and certainty of long-term relational viability before stepping into marriage.
While Pastor Mike Novotny, author of the new book, “Newlywed: A Christian Guide for Loving Year One,” made clear marriage isn’t a requirement for a thriving spiritual life — noting Jesus Himself wasn’t married — he does challenge the thinking of young adults delaying marriage.
Is Gen Z the last generation ?
Something to think about.
It’s sad. Many of these are the intelligent and working Gen Z’ers, that should be having children. We’re just dumbing down the population even more. Natural selection working in reverse…
With women being able to say no to their husbands (and accuse them of spousal rape), and then raping them through the divorce courts, the contract of marriage isn’t what it was historically. Guys need a pre-nup with escape clauses to protect themselves. The courts siding with women for alimony and support these days are too onerous to survive!
We have made it too hard for them to find the American dream. I have kids in this demographic . Their hard-working and good kids. My husband and I don’t have a lot of money, but we are slowly working on paying off and fixing up our home. I will work until my dying day to make sure these kids at least have a home that is theirs. There are plenty of good kids out there, too many people bashing them instead of getting them on the right path.