Really, How Expensive Is It To Have A Child? Here’s What The Data Says
Do you want kids but worry you might not be ready to cover the cost? Let’s look at what you’ll really be spending and how to balance your priorities to make sure your little one will have what they need most – your love.
According to a recent Pew Research report, 36% of adults aged 18-49 who say they are unlikely to have children made that choice because they feel they can’t afford kids. In addition, large majorities of childless adults aged 18-49 say they see financial and lifestyle advantages to remaining child-free, with 79% claiming it helps their ability to afford the things they want and 75% saying it helps them save for the future. Alarmingly, a rapidly growing number of adults are joining these numbers every year. According to the same Pew report, in 2018, 37% of adults under 50 said they were unlikely to ever have children. Fast forward just five years to 2023, and that number becomes 47%.
From that first hospital bill to the nursery trimmings and trappings to navigating child care, there definitely are a lot of financial considerations involved when you bring a baby into the world. But how do the numbers really break down? And why is it, in an era of unprecedented personal luxury as compared to that of previous centuries, that we place so much focus on the financial burden of children rather than on any other aspect of growing our families and the profound experience of creating and raising new humans?