Childless or childfree

Abstract

IT IS A WIDELY ACCEPTED but seldom realised health norm that sexual and reproductive health includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of unwanted infertility. Recent statistics demonstrate that the proportion of Australians living in couple families with children will continue to fall over time. Between 1996 and 2016, the proportion of Australians living in couple families with children declined from 54% to 49%, and this is further projected to decline to 48% by 2041.1 Many of these couples are childless by choice, some by circumstance. As Rifkin notes, to link meaningfulness in life only with child production seems an affront to human dignity, individual differences and personal choice.