What Is the Average Number of Children for an American Family
In the late 1970s, the average mother at the end of her childbearing years had given birth to more than iii children. Since that time, average family unit size has declined, driven largely by declines in families with four or more children. Now, moms have 2.4 children on average – a number that has been fairly stable for two decades.
In 1976, four-in-ten mothers ages 40 to 44 had iv or more children. One-quaternary had 3 children, and a similar share (24%) had ii children. Simply 11% of mothers at the end of their childbearing years had had just one child.
Flash forward to 2014, and the situation has changed dramatically. The once-ascendant iv-child family unit has been replaced by the two-kid family unit. A plurality (41%) of moms at the stop of their childbearing years at present report having 2 kids, while just xiv% have 4 or more than children. Meanwhile, the share of mothers at the end of their childbearing years who have i child has doubled – from xi% to 22%. As has been the example for many decades, almost one-fourth of mothers have three children (24%).
Almost of the change in family unit size occurred betwixt 1976 and the mid-1990s. Family size since that time has remained quite stable.
Number of Children, by Educational Attainment
The more teaching a mother has, the fewer children she volition have on boilerplate in her lifetime. While fertility drops somewhat with each additional level of education, the biggest fertility gap occurs between women who lack a high school diploma and those who accept completed high school.
Moms ages 40 to 44 who lack a high school diploma have about 2.ix children in their lifetimes, on boilerplate, while those with a high school diploma or some college have about two.4 kids. Mothers at the end of their childbearing years who have a bachelor's degree or higher accept about 2.2 children on average.
The two-kid family is the most mutual family unit type among moms with a loftier school diploma or more, and it is particularly prevalent amongst women with a bachelor's degree or higher. Some 46% of women ages forty to 44 with a available'due south caste accept 2 children, as do half of those with at least a primary's caste. One third (32%) of women who lack a loftier school diploma have two children, as do 38% of those with a high school diploma or some college experience.
More than than half (55%) of mothers who lack a high school diploma accept iii children or more – 29% have exactly iii children, and 26% have 4 or more than. The likelihood of having such large families declines markedly at higher levels of education. Amongst mothers with a high school diploma or some college feel, 24% have three children and another 14% have four or more than children, while well-nigh i-3rd (32%) of mothers with a bachelor's degree have three or more children. Meanwhile, mothers with advanced degrees are half every bit probable equally those lacking a high schoolhouse diploma to take three or more than children – just 27% do. Some nineteen% have three children, and 8% have iv or more.
While the association of education and family size remains a strong one, in fact the educational "gap" in fertility has narrowed in the past two decades, driven in part by increases in family size among the highly educated.
Since 1994, the share of mothers with at least a master's degree who accept just one child has declined from 28% to 23%. At the same time, the share having three or more children has increased from 22% to 27%. Highly educated women are the only group in which this articulate pattern emerges, with a declining share having one kid and a ascent share having iii or more.
Among mothers who lack a high school diploma, the share having 4 or more has declined by 5 points, while the share having exactly three children has increased by 5 points. There has been piddling change in the share with fewer children.
Interestingly, amid mothers with a high school diploma, the share having ii children has declined by 5 percentage points, down from 43% in 1994. This decline is accompanied by an increment in the share having just one child.
Fertility patterns have remained virtually unchanged since 1994 for mothers with a bachelor'south degree.
Fertility Patterns Amidst Mothers by Race and Ethnicity
Amid mothers well-nigh the stop of their childbearing years, Hispanics and blacks have the largest families. On boilerplate, a Hispanic mother ages 40 to 44 has had almost 2.6 children. By comparison, black mothers have had about 2.five. White and Asian mothers have families that are a flake smaller, on average. White mothers have 2.3 children, and Asian mothers have 2.ii children.
When looking at the distribution of family size by race and ethnicity, the distinctiveness of the Hispanic family becomes particularly apparent. Amidst mothers ages 40 to 44, Hispanics are the to the lowest degree likely to take only one child – simply 17% practice. In contrast, fully 25% of blackness moms have had just i kid, as is the case for 23% of white moms and 22% of Asian moms.
Conversely, Hispanics are far more than likely than others to have large families. Fully half of Hispanic mothers have 3 or more kids, compared with 40% of blacks. About one-third (33%) of whites have three or more kids, and merely 27% of Asian moms do.
Among whites, blacks and Asians, having ii children is the most common issue for mothers. Asian moms are the about probable to have two children – fully half exercise. Some 44% of white moms ages 40 to 44 take two children, as exercise about one-third of black moms.
Looking at changes in fertility over time, it'south credible that families with four or more than children are in decline for whites, blacks, and Hispanics. However, at that place are variations in which family unit sizes are "gaining ground" every bit very large families are on the wane.
The decline in the share of moms with four or more kids has been especially dramatic amongst blackness mothers. In 1988, iii-in-10 blackness mothers ages 40 to 44 had four or more children, but by 2014, merely 18% did. At the same fourth dimension, the share of black mothers with one child rose by 5 percentage points (from 20% to 25%), equally did the share with two children.
The decline in the share of mothers with 4 or more children has been notable among Hispanics as well. In 1988, fully 31% of Hispanic moms had iv or more children. That share dropped to twenty% by 2014. At the same time, there was an 8-percent-point increment in the share of Hispanic moms with exactly three children – suggesting that many mothers were opting for iii kids instead of iv or more.
Amid white mothers, the 6-point decline in families with four or more children has been totally offset past the 6-signal ascension in only children.
Data on Asian mothers are unavailable for 1988, merely since 1994, in that location has been no significant modify in the size of their families.
Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/05/07/family-size-among-mothers/
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