Overview

• Nearly half of women ages 15 to 44 who intend to have children report being only somewhat or not at all certain they will follow through, according to Ohio State University research.
• The share of women planning to become mothers has held steady at about 62% over the past two decades.
• Confidence among college-educated women dropped from 65% saying they were ‘very sure’ in 2014 to just over half by 2018.
• Up to 25% of childless women who desire children say they would not be significantly upset if they remained childfree, a view most common among younger women.
• The U.S. fertility rate fell to 1.62 children per woman in 2023 and researchers found that personal life dissatisfaction, rather than wider societal worries, best predicts fertility goals.