Many men and women are making the decision to have children later in life. Why is this trend occurring? What are the impacts of this development on both family and society?

These days, a global predisposition towards delayed parenthood has emerged, constituting a perennial debate worldwide. This essay will elaborate on its causes and effects on both family and society.

The deferment of childbearing is ascribed to an array of issues, some of which will be demonstrated as follows. Firstly, postponed maternity ensues from rising living costs. The recent surge in the living expenses has rendered couples struggling to attain financial security. Consequently, they are inclined to harbour a hesitation in giving birth which ,apparently, is inextricably linked with more responsibilities and payment. Statistically speaking , the average cost of maternity care today in the US is 6000 dollars, which has doubled since 2008. Secondly, late parenthood can be attributable to gender equality. As a result of gender equality campaigns, the beginning of this new millennium has observed an indisputable deviation in humans’ philosophy, especially as to the roles of women. To be more specific, the engagement of women in every career has now been significantly intensified while in the past, they tended to devote themselves to child-rearing.

Delayed parenthood has had far-reaching impacts on both family and society. To start with, late pregnancy may interfere with the connection between parents and their offspring. Apparently, the later one gets married, the more the generation gap between family members is lengthened, engendering considerable differences among discrete schools of thoughts. Hence, in such cases, parental understanding and sympathy are likely to be hindered. Moreover, delayed parenthood contributes to population ageing. It has been scientifically acclaimed that chances of pregnancy decrease as humans grow older. In other words, those with higher ages are less likely to give birth, triggering a continual decline in the fertility rate.

To recapitulate, delayed parenthood, a consequence of rising living expenses and gender equality, can wield certain influences on both family and society considering the aforementioned points.