Many young people across the world have a similar agenda for their future: to find a partner, build a family, and live with some measure of financial security. What’s changed isn’t the desire for it—but that, for so many, those things feel out of reach.  

A new report from UNFPA asked more than 108,000 Internet-connected young adults*, aged 18 to 39, across 73 countries about relationships, family, and their futures—and the findings revealed a common theme. Young people still hope for partnership and children, but what stands in their way is not desire—it’s economics.  

They still want partnership and children

More than two-thirds of young people surveyed said their ideal future includes marriage—whether that means marrying first and then living together, or living together and marrying later. Across most regions surveyed, two children remain the most common desired family size. Partnership and parenthood, in other words, are still very much part of how young people picture the lives they want.  

However, wanting and reaching are two very different things. Roughly one in four people ages 25 to 39 who want a partner are currently single and not dating. And across nearly every country, adults in their late 30s have fewer children than young people say they consider ideal—highlighting a quiet gap between the family people hope and dream for, and the one they’re actually able to build. 

The barrier named most: stability  

When you ask young people what they need before starting a family, the most common answer you’ll find is stability. Financial stability was the top consideration for entering a partnership, named by 81% of respondents, and the top precondition for parenthood, named by 88%. Steady employment (87%) and feeling emotionally ready (85%) followed closely behind.  

When asked what holds them back from having the families they want, young people pointed to the same thing: economic and housing constraints. These most-cited barriers emphasize that falling birth rates aren’t because young people have lost interest in having children, but that the conditions to reach parenthood—like affordable housing and steady work—too often aren’t available.

A generation that continues to remain hopeful  

Even knowing the endless constraints that hold back their future, young people continue to remain hopeful—specifically, two-thirds said they feel positive about the future, even considering real worries in conflict, economic insecurity, and inequality.  

That optimism ran especially high among respondents in parts of Africa, but was lower among respondents in wealthier regions. However, across the board, young people aren’t giving up on the futures they imagined.  

To build a world where instability and uncertainty are no longer issues for younger generations, we must invest in the conditions that let them decide their own futures—reproductive healthcare, safe pregnancy and delivery, and the care that lets young people plan whether, when, or if they want a family.  

That care is delivered every day by UNFPA midwives, nurses, and local health workers, and it reaches further because of the people who choose to stand behind them.  

Young people told us what they’re reaching for, but the next part depends on the conditions we build around them.  

At USA for UNFPA, that’s the work we support—helping deliver the healthcare and stability that let young people build the futures they imagine.