I think it is one of the reasons to take out trend is so high. Of the people under 50 that I work with exactly 1 of them have children, and 1 of them wants children one day (but not now) the rest of us, including myself, have no children and have zero desire to have children. Looking at population data we are not alone in that.
They are young (not yet 40 years of age), have above-average incomes, and live in urban areas. If you cross-reference this population with desire to have kids, you will find them dragging the reproduction rate in this country massively downwards. The opposite is true about... every facet of what I just said.
EDIT: Many people have pointed out why this is a terrible trend, for reasons that are obvious.
Are they? I am not sure I see the obvious reasons. Considering the future, maybe its a better idea to not have children.
The world is improving by many, many metrics. Absolute poverty isn't just going down, it's accelerating towards zero. We're also hitting a point where everyone who can be, is connected. Online education is better than ever (for those who seek it). I could go on.
I think 100% irreversible processes like microplastics in oceans is something that much more urgently needs dealing with. Repairing the climate is easy compared to filtering trillions of molecules back out the ocean.
how am I "very far from the norm", you must not be looking at the same stats that I am.
Birth Rates are plummeting in the US, we have the lowest birth rates in all of recorded history right now, and if you remove immigration and 2nd generation children (children born to immigrants to the US) we have a massively negative population growth.
No my friend, my generations is not, and does not want to have children
People are having fewer children but the change is not quite as stark as you are painting it. The US fertility rate is near or at an all time low, but it's not like it's half what it was in the 80s. It's just a few percent lower than it was forty years ago.
You can certainly define demographics that will remain childless, but a substantial majority of households will eventually raise a child. Worth considering in a model of how food will be prepared (or any other business it might impact).