Family Life

06.29.11 | Sarah Harnisch

Call it the no-baby boom... not as many married couples are having kids. Because of the state of the economy, more married couples are waiting to have children-- or not having kids at all. There are 58-million married couples in the U.S., and of them, nearly half-- a startling 26-million couples-- are childless. Not only are they childless, but millions are planning on never having children. The male sterlization industry is booming-- in some areas, seeing a 50-percent jump in the last year. The main reason for no kids? Finances. The Department of Agriculture says the average cost for a middle-income two-parent family to support a child through high school-- 1 child-- is 286 thousand dollars. It isn't just an American trend. Global birth rates dropped from 6 children per woman in 1972-- to 2.9-- by 2008. If you want to read more about this story, go here.