Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1534411
10 OPINION maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 APRIL 2025 THE latest Eurostat data shows Malta already has the lowest fertility rate in Europe and is forecast to continue shrink- ing. Many of our politicians and sociologists are calling Malta's plummeting birth rate 'jaw-dropping', but perhaps it is an understandable conse- quence of the existential ma- laise many of us feel. There is a growing sense that accountability has been erod- ed, inequality is rampant and the profound structural chang- es we need to feel better about the future are out of our reach. There will be those who con- sider child-free adults unnat- ural and cold. Many childless people are indeed just as happy as if they were parents. The climate crisis has pre- sented an opportunity to re- brand being child-free, once the greatest taboo, into the ulti- mate altruistic act. At the same time, parenthood is framed as the ultimate investment in a better future. But choosing to have children is neither inher- ently good nor selfish, and the same goes for being child-free. We must challenge the ortho- doxy that says choosing to live one way is a criticism of anoth- er. Those who choose to be childless should not be made to feel guilty for their choice. The no-kids movement is booming, but so is the backlash. While deciding against having chil- dren is nothing new, a trend towards owning the 'child-free' label and discussing that choice more openly is picking up pace. However, societal accept- ance and understanding of the choice to live without kids is shifting at a much slower pace. We must not forget those adults who don't currently have any children but want them in the future, or adults who had hoped to have children but were unable to (usually labelled 'childless'). Childless people may have faced fertility chal- lenges or other medical issues or been affected by social cir- cumstances, such as not meet- ing a suitable or willing partner at the right time, for instance. The term 'child-free' has ex- isted since the early 1900s, al- though it wasn't until the 1970s that feminists began using it more widely as a way of denot- ing women who were voluntar- ily childless as a distinct group. The suffix 'free' was chosen to capture the sense of freedom and lack of obligation felt by many of those who had volun- tarily decided not to have kids. Yet many keep lumping all people who don't have chil- dren into the same group. This doesn't reflect the very differ- ent experiences and feelings of child-free and childless people. It could mean there's a lack of long-term comparative data looking specifically at either group. A growing number of adults in our tiny and overpopulated country may be actively choos- ing not to have kids. The main reason could be that they don't want to have chil- dren, rather than more circum- stantial factors such as medical issues or not wanting to raise a child without having a partner. Other reasons millennials and Gen Zers are choosing to be child-free are wide-ranging, al- though there are several com- mon trajectories. Some people know early in life that they don't want children, and they never waver. Some people come to the decision later in life and then proclaim it as a part of their identity. And then some people are sort of on the fence about whether to have children who might flip- flop back and forth. Some never really see them- selves as likely future parents, feeling a total absence of any maternal yearning to procre- ate. Others believe having kids would make it more challeng- ing for them to travel or work abroad in the future. Others, still, might list climate change and the state of the country as external factors that influence their reasoning, reflecting a small but growing trend iden- tified by child-free researchers. Practical and financial issues like living in insecure rental ac- commodation, working in the gig economy and limited access to healthcare may also be per- tinent for many millennials as they weigh up whether to have children. They are uncertain about becoming parents and are stopping to question what exactly those kinds of "sacrific- es" might look like, in contrast to previous generations, who may have been more likely to follow societal norms and start a family anyway. Increased awareness of the potential physical and men- tal toll of starting a family is also having an influence, and whether people live near their family of origin or friends net- work is also definitely a factor. The boom in influencers and online communities celebrat- ing being child-free is, on the one hand, an indication that societal norms are shifting. The sheer number of people going online and finding others The birthstrikers generation Mark Said is a veteran lawyer Mark Said Those who choose to be childless should not be made to feel guilty for their choice.