Complications faced by women aging without children.

Older woman, some of whom face aging without children

Women in every country figure higher in their rate of poverty along with longevity, in the United States and other developed countries, that exceeds that of men.  One of the major problems in America is the number of women reaching middle age and older without children who can care for them when they are old.

A Pew Research poll found a few years ago that nearly one in five American women ends her child-bearing years without having had a child.  This compares with one in ten in the 1970's.  What groups show the most significant changes? The Pew Forum found that while childlessness has risen for all racial and ethnic groups, and most education levels, it has fallen the most for women with advanced degrees.Women the most likely not to have a child are those who have degrees beyond the bachelors level.  There was, however, one exceptional year for 2008, when these educated women showed 24% without children in comparison with 31% in 1994. These women were mostly 40 - 44 years of age. The most educated women still are among the most likely never to have had a child.

White women are most likely not to have had a chld by the end of child-bearing years, but the gap is narrowing as childless rates have increased across the board with many groups. Among all women ages 40-44, the proportion that has never given birth, 18% in 2008, has grown by 80% since 1976, when it was 10%. There were 1.9 million childless women ages 40-44 in 2008, compared with nearly 580,000 in 1976. This report is based mainly on data from the June fertility supplement of the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

The United States is on par with many other nations and higher than others.  For example, the rate of childlessness is 22% in Great Britain 7% for Eastern European countries. 

Why has childlessness rates grown in recent years?  Experts tell us what today the decision is seen as a woman's individual choice.  Women also have better job choices and contraceptive methods.  Furthermore there has been a general trend toward delaying marriage and child-bearing, especially among more educated women.

What happens when this population of women reach retirement and beyond, needing medical care and help with navigating through the problems of aging?  That is the question confounding the experts, especially when the cost of health care is increasing.  It will also mean an increased demand on social service systems.  One of the political issues has to do with the conservative groups that clamor to reduce the safety nets even as more people are poised to need them.

Women's needs in aging are part of the problem social scientists maintain need to be addressed, even as the population itself is in flux.  In 2014 more women who are older are known to be having children, yet the rate of childlessness will surely impact the cost of care and other social issues in the coming years.