Survey Overview

Across much of the world, partnership formation is occurring later, marriage rates have declined and fertility has fallen to historically low levels. Two thirds of the world’s population now lives in countries or areas where the total fertility rate is below 2.1 children per woman – the level commonly associated with the population size remaining stable over time. Low fertility is no longer confined to a narrow set of high-income countries; it is now evident across a wide range of contexts, including many middle-income countries, while fertility is also declining in many countries where birth rates remain comparatively high. These demographic shifts have become an increasingly prominent focus of public debate and policy discussions.

While scholarly research has generated extensive evidence into the determinants of partnership formation, marriage and childbearing, and existing survey infrastructures have provided valuable insights into related issues, largely in European contexts, UNFPA identified a need for comparable evidence from a much broader range of countries. To address this gap, UNFPA conducted the Demographic Futures Survey, one of the largest surveys of its kind, covering 73 countries across all world regions. The survey examines young adults’ aspirations and experiences regarding life goals, partnerships and parenthood, with particular attention to the factors that may facilitate or constrain their transitions to adulthood.

Drawing on the responses from 108,926 Internet-connected young adults aged 18–39 years, the survey provides comparative evidence on respondents’ aspirations for their lives, as well as the constraints they report in achieving them. The findings show that partnerships and having children remain important aspirations for many young adults. At the same time, economic insecurity, housing constraints and difficulties finding a suitable partner are among the factors most frequently rated as important barriers to achieving them.

Key findings

Young people around the world continue to value partnership and parenthood.

• Most young adults surveyed want to marry, but among those aged 25 to 39 who want a partner, around one quarter are currently single and not dating.
• Young adults in five out of seven regional groups consider two children as the ideal family size; on average, males report larger ideal family sizes than females.

Conditions must be right for young people to have the families they want.

• Young people surveyed identify financial security, stable employment and emotional readiness as the most important preconditions for becoming parents.
• Attitudes towards caregiving and parenthood remain gender unequal. Survey respondents were more disapproving of mothers with young children being employed than fathers with young children being employed.

Forward-looking policies and investments in young people will contribute to more innovative and resilient societies.

• Cross-sector policies are key to addressing the economic, social and institutional conditions that young people identify as important, including education, employment security, adequate and affordable housing, reproductive health services, and social protection and support.
• Gender equity should be an important consideration in policy responses to demographic change, including investments in parental leave, childcare provision and measures that support a more equitable distribution of care responsibilities.

The data at a glance

• Over 100,000 surveyed
  More than 108,000 Internet-connected young adults aged 18–39 were surveyed across 73 countries.
• Finances first
  The highest-rated preconditions for becoming a parent are financial security, identified as important by 88 percent of respondents; stable employment, by 87 percent; and emotional readiness, by 85 percent.
• Economic foundations and barriers to partnership
  Economic and housing constraints constitute the most commonly reported category of barrier to partnership, rated as important by 57 percent.
• The enduring appeal of marriage
  More than two thirds of respondents said their ideal partnership and living arrangement involved marriage.
• Regional variations in ideal family size
  Two children is the most commonly reported ideal family size in five of the seven regional groupings. Larger ideal family sizes are more common in East and Southern Africa and West and Central Africa.
• The joy of parenthood
  Eight in ten respondents rated the joy and happiness that children bring as an important reason for having children, making it the highest-rated motivation for parenthood.

Download the full report:
https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/Choices%2C%20Lives%20and%20Futures_5%20July%202026.pdf