The majority of adults still either have or want to have children, but a growing number are choosing to be childfree.
According to a 2023 Michigan State University study, about one in five adults in Michigan don’t want to become parents.
Across the country, a decline in childbearing is noticeable. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported a historic low fertility rate in 2023 with a 3 percent decline from 2022, marking the second consecutive year the rate has dropped.
Of course, not having kids isn’t always a matter of choice. Some people want kids — or did, at some point in their lives — but don’t wind up becoming parents due to circumstances, infertility, cost or other factors.
The Pew Research Center analyzed childless and childfree people’s reasons for not having children, and the top reasons given were “It just didn’t happen,” “Didn’t find the right partner” or they “Just didn’t want to,” with other common answers including “Infertility or other medical reasons, “Concerns about the state of the world” and “Negative experiences with their own family growing up.”
Read More: 19 Country Music Stars With a Lot of Kids
In country music, most stars have welcomed kids — in some cases, a lot of them — but some others have none at all.
Dolly Parton is one of the most famous childfree celebrities. She has said that she and her husband Carl Dean originally “assumed” they’d be parents, but when it never worked out, they were both eventually happy with their childfree status, especially since Parton’s philanthropic efforts allowed her to enrich children’s lives all over the world.
Read More: Why Dolly Parton + Her Husband Never Had Kids
Other stars, such as Blake Shelton and Trisha Yearwood, have found fulfillment in being involved and loving step-parents to their spouse’s children. In that way, they’ve been able to develop a parent-child bond despite not having biological children of their own.
Read on to learn the stories of 11 country singers who never wound up having kids, and what they’ve said about their experience of being childless or childfree.
11 Country Stars Who Never Had Children
Parenthood is a route most country stars go down at some point in their lives, but not everyone chooses to have children. Some of these country stars chose not to become parents, while others simply never had children due to circumstance, infertility or complications. Read on to hear the stories of 11 singers who never had kids.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak