How many people are involuntarily childless?

The number of permanently childless women has fluctuated considerably among the Norwegian women bom in this century, from less than ten percent to twice that. Childlessness, especially involuntary childlessness, receives far more attention today than it did 15 to 20 years ago. Delayed childbearing and innovation developed in the field of modem reproduction technology have heightened interest in childlessness. Some people seem to believe that the incidence of reproduction problems has increased steadily and is well on its way to assuming epidemic proportions. Others make a point of childlessness by choice. Emphasis is attached to clarifying the terminology used to discuss different ways of distinguishing childlessness and types of childlessness. The data have been taken from two major interview surveys, the Fertility Survey 1977 (FS 77) and the Family and Occupation Survey 1988 (F&O 88). Our findings do not indicate that infecundity became more common during the decade covering the latter half of the 1970s and early half of the 1980s. The total percentage of permanently childless women shows signs of increasing slightly from its level of just less than ten percent. This increase is probably due as much to “voluntary” as involuntary childlessness.