Fewer women in America are having children, a trend that has been growing since the 1970s. These PANKs®  - Professional Aunts No Kids - are tipping toward the majority of American women.

The U.S. Census Report “Fertility of American Women: 2008” states that 45.7 percent of women through the age of forty-four do not have children, and even fewer women are having children than in 2006 (45.1%). In fact, according to the report, “childlessness has been increasing steadily since 1976 when 35 percent of women in the childbearing ages were childless.”

 2008 “Women without children” data, broken down by age range:

15 to 19 years: 93.7%
20 to 24 years: 70.6%
25 to 29 years: 46.2%
30 to 34 years: 26.8%
35 to 39 years: 19.4%
40 to 44 years: 17.8%

These data do not include women age forty-five and older, so a strong assumption can be made that nearly 50 percent of American women are childless, as few women age forty-five and older have children for the first time.

While the study does not account for exactly why women are have children later in life, if ever, it does cite other studies that indicate some women put career before childbirth. At Savvy Auntie, we know there are many other reasons why women don't have kids, or like 14 percent of American women, have their first child at age 35 or older.  We are getting married later as a nation, and many women are still waiting for love well into their thirties and forties. These modern situations are what Savvy Auntie founder, Melanie Notkin, has termed "circumstantial infertility," involuntarily childlessness due to partner status. Social infertility is also a factor, where lesbians are not marrying men in order to conform to traditional households.

PANKs are a powerful segment of American women. And as this segment tips over to the majority of women, we hope our influence is more recognized. A 2002 Pew Research study study indicated that only 59% of Americans 'disagree' with the statement: 'childless people lead empty lives.'

Our nieces and nephews who get our love and attention would probably be part of that majority.

Published: January 3, 2011