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Involuntarily Childless Researchers This group is for involuntarily childless folks who conduct research on any and all aspects of the experience of involuntary childlessness to share: resources, articles, stories of how we came to our research paths, the research process (methodology, epistemology, theoretical frameworks, ethical issues, data collection, analysis, dissemination, etc.), advocacy, and any other topics that we feel may be beneficial to this research community.
Adoption
GOV.UK - UK - On average, it takes 2 years and 2 months for a child to be adopted. In 2021, the average time between a child entering care and being placed for adoption was 1 year and 4 months, it then takes a further 10 months for an adoption order to be granted and the adoption to be completed. The average age of a child at adoption has risen by 3 months to 3 years and 3 months. Adoptions rose sharply from 2011 to a peak in 2015 but have since been falling. This decrease follows two court rulings in 2013, which stated that adoption orders should be made only when there was no other alternative, such as placing a child with birth relatives.
Adoption Network - US - Today, almost 60%-70% of domestic adoptions are now open adoptions, which means there is a degree of openness and disclosure of information between adoptive and birth parents regarding the adopted child. Private US newborn adoption costs often range from $35,000 to $50,000 and Adopting Parents must be prepared to pay for additional expenses such as: professional service fees, marketing to find a birth mother, home study fees, child abuse/FBI clearance fees, birth mother expenses, travel expenses and court costs.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - Australia - Reports and statistics on adoption. Adoption numbers in Australia declined by 63% over the past 25 years – from 709 in 1996–97 to 264 in 2020–21
Ageing Without Children
Ageing without Children was one of the daily topics during World Childless Week 2020, you can read the submissions and view the webinars here
Ageing Without Children - AWwoC - Alongside helping people set up social groups for anyone aging without children the website has statistics, resources and the Our Voices Report (2016) which details the experiences and thoughts of a hitherto invisible group of older people: those ageing without children. It contains individual stories of people ageing without children and highlights common themes and challenges they face.
United Sates Census Bureau - Of the 92.2 million adults ages 55 and older in 2018, 15.2 million (16.5%) are childless, defined here as having no biological children.
National Institute on Aging - US - Reports and census articles looking at the changing demographic patterns and trends of older adults without children.
Childlessness in The Workplace
Childlessness in The Workplace was one of the daily topics during World Childless Week 2022, you can read the submissions and view the webinars here
New Legacy Institute is leading social justice advocacy for equitable and consciously inclusive action and environments, for people without children. We are focused on change in the key areas of organizational culture & employment policies, access to public benefits & services, all forms of media representation, inclusive marketing, social equity and government policies. Addressing the political economy of pronatalism and the social marginalization and misunderstanding of those without children, through social, organizational, and policy centered change initiatives.
Research: Complex fertility journeys and the workplace - This project aims to raise awareness of the workplace issues around complex fertility journeys, which can include infertility, fertility treatment, miscarriage and childlessness.
Fertility/Infertility Satistics
Office for National Statistics - UK - Childbearing for women born in different years, England and Wales: 2020. Of women aged 45 years and born in 1975 who had completed their childbearing years in 2020, 18% were childless. We continue to see a delay in childbearing, with women born in 1990 becoming the first cohort where half of the women remain childless by their 30th birthday. Levels of childlessness by age 30 have been steadily rising since a low of 18% for women born in 1941. Lower levels of fertility in those currently in their 20s indicate that this trend is likely to continue.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - US - Key Statistics present some of the most relied-upon findings from the National Survey of Family Growth. Estimates are shown for 2015-2017 and 2017-2019 data for women and men ages 15-49.
World Health Organisation - Estimates suggest that between 48 million couples and 186 million individuals live with infertility globally.
BBC News - The rise in childlessness is most marked in southern Europe, with rates surpassing 20% among women born in the early 1970s in Greece, Italy and Spain. In western Europe, childlessness was highest in Austria, Germany and Switzerland at about 20% of women born in 1968. Birth rates in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Russia are higher than other central and eastern European countries after the fall of communism in 1989-90. Only 8% of women born in these countries in 1968 remain childless, far below the European average of 14%.
United Sates Census Bureau - Childless Older Americans 2018 - More than 15 million adults, or nearly one in six Americans aged 55 and older, are childless, and the levels of childlessness among adults are expected to increase. Using data from the 2018 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this report provides an overview of the childless older Americans, and examines their demographic, economic, health, and household characteristics.
IVF
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority - UK - Fertility treatment 2018: trends and figures. UK statistics for IVF and DI treatment, storage, and donation, published: 30 June 2020
Penn Medicine - US - The chance of having a full term, normal birth weight and singleton live birth per ART cycle using fresh embryos from nondonor eggs is 21.3 percent for women younger than 35, according to SART’s 2015 report.
UNSW Sydney - Australia - In women aged 35–39, the live birth rate per cycle went from 19% to 23% in the past decade, while the live birth rate for women aged 40–44 increased to 10% overall – a rise of 27%.
Men and Childlessness
Robin Hadley is the leading academic voice on male childlessness in the UK. Alongside releasing his book, How Is a Man Supposed to Be a Man? Male Childlessness – a Life Course Disrupted, he has researched and written numerous papers on male childlessness.
World Childless Week Survey 2018 - Statistics and comments on the emotional impact of being male and childless.
Miscarriage
Tommy’s - Miscarriage support and the statistics related to early miscarriage, late miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. 23 million miscarriages occur every year worldwide.
DISCLAIMER: Please note the resources and material provided on this website is for information only and World Childless Week cannot guarantee there are no mistakes or errors. World Childless Week cannot vouch for the services, products or treatments provided by anyone mentioned on the website. Should you act upon any of the information provided on this website, you do so at your own risk.