Gen Z: Less Likely to Get Married or Have Kids

By Lauren Sanchez

Gen Z includes those born between 1997 to 2012, so aged 12 to 27.

Many in Generation Z are choosing not to get married or have kids. They are doing it differently from past generations for many reasons.

According to CSN’s student profile numbers from 2020, there is approximately 70% of CSN’s students who are considered part of this Gen Z generation.  

Pew Research Center’s study titled “Parents, Young Adult Children and the Transition to Adulthood” dated January 2024, noted, “Today’s young adults are reaching key milestones later than young adults in their parents’ generation did in the early 1990s.”

The study added, “Young adults today are much more likely than their counterparts 30 years ago to be college graduates. They’re also more likely to have outstanding student loans. Young adults are more likely to be employed full time now than young adults in 1993. These increases have been driven by a larger share of women working full time — 55% in 1993 vs. 67% today, among those ages 25 to 34.”

“Today’s young adults are getting married much later than their parents’ generation,” according to PEW. “The gap in the share who are married is especially wide among young adults ages 25 to 29: 29% were married in 2023, compared with 50% in 1993. Young adults are also delaying having children, for example, 27% of adults ages 30 to 34 had a child in their household in 2023, compared with 60% in 1993.”

CSN Professor of human behavior Flora Rudacille, said, “It has become increasingly acceptable to delay marriage and parenting over the past 20 years or so. Gen-Z has a strong desire for mental health and wellness. Some have come to feel that bringing children into such a messed-up world is selfish.”

CSN Professor Stephanie Fiorenza said, “People are starting to realize that raising a human being is a monumental amount of work. Having kids while you are young makes it hard to live your dreams and goals. Some people are independent and feel they are not capable of that.”

CSN student Jovan Franco shared his opinion, “Sooner or later I would like to be married and have kids, but I see why people born in Gen Z don’t. A lot of them have a pessimistic view of the future, especially with issues regarding the economy, climate change and the government. As such, a lot of them see no reason to put children into what they perceive as a doomed world.”