While current trends show that 1 in 4 young women today will remain childless, Iona Instituteʼs Breda OʼBrien said the huge question is “whether this will be by choice or circumstance.” One in 4 members of Ireland’s Gen Z demographic are expected to be childless by age 45, according to a new report from Dublin’s Iona Institute, which promotes marriage, freedom of conscience, and religion in society. Gen Z generally refers to people born between 1997 and 2012. Drawing on cohort-level data from the Human Fertility Database (HFD), as well as using demographic modelling, the institute’s “Choice of Circumstance? Rising Childlessness in Ireland” report, released in May, charts a huge increase in the number of Irish women who are childless. Among those born in the late 1950s, only 30.9% were childless by age 30, rising to 63.6% for those born in the early 1990s. This trend suggests 25% of women born in the late 1990s will be childless when they reach age 45. Breda OʼBrien of the Iona Institute told EWTN News that “a huge question is whether this will be by choice or circumstance.” Much will be unplanned and forced by circumstance, such as the cost of living,” she said.
“It’s worrying and weʼre sliding into it without too much discussion. Before the 1930s, we had similar rates of childlessness in Ireland, but that was because of extreme poverty, late marriage, and low marriage rates. Weʼre supposed to be in an era where women have every possible choice.” “The choice to have children, which is fundamental, is being taken away from young women. Itʼs being painted as a kind of freedom. I don’t think young women themselves consider it to be a type of freedom, and I think a lot of them are worried about it.” According to Central Statistics office data, the average man’s age at marriage is now nearing 38 and the average women’s age is almost 36. O’Brien that there needs to be debate about why this is happening as a society. “It is a phenomenon we should discuss far more widely if our aim is to help people achieve their eventual life goals. I think among people of faith, they are still prioritizing children and family, and marriage. The Catholic Church needs to support those young families in every way possible.”
