More highlights from the Census Bureau’s Fertility of American Women report released last week:
- Overall, 43 percent of women of childbearing age (15 to 44 years old) were childless in 2000. Among women who were nearing the completion of their childbearing years (40 to 44 years old), 19 percent were childless, almost twice as many as women in the same age group in 1980 (10 percent).
- Women nearing the end of their childbearing years had an average of 1.9 children, which is below the level required for the natural replacement of the population (about 2.1 births per woman). This average is one child less than the average for women in this same age group in 1980 (3.0 children).
I suppose the main reason for the drop in the birth rate is childless-by-choice career women. The whole thing seems kind of sad to me.
These women, like the rest of us, will, with age, become increasingly good for nothing in the workplace and elsewhere.
I hate to even think about this process, but it does give me some comfort to think that, barring an unforeseen tragedy, I'll have children and perhaps grandchildren to maintain my connection with the future of the human race.
What else do I have?
My wife would just as happy, if not happier, with someone else.
My brilliant career? Who cares? If I hadn’t done the work, someone else would have done it. Maybe not as well. Maybe better.
Childless and waiting for death . . . what a finish.
Related Links
- Having it All!
Working moms are destroying the nation