New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that record numbers of U.S. women are still childless by the age of 44, but not always due to their own choice.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is reporting on the new data which found that 47.6 percent of U.S. women of child-bearing age (15 to 44) were childless in 2014. Just two years earlier, the number stood at 46.5 percent.

The sharpest increase in childlessness was found among women in their late 30’s. The data found that 18.5 percent of women between the ages of 35 and 39 were childless in 2014, up from 17.2% in 2012.

A more modest increase was found among women in the 40 to 44 age group where 15.3 percent of these women were found to be childless in 2014, up slightly from the 15.1 percent who were found to be without children in 2012.

“Some Americans may now prefer life without children, though most still report in surveys that they want two kids. Others may be struggling to have children, or can’t afford expensive fertility treatments,” the WSJ reports.

Not surprisingly, the data found that women between the ages of 40 and 50 who were in managerial or professional occupations were more likely to be childless than women of the same age who were in other occupations.

“With more women having their first child in their mid 30s, late 30s and early 40s, American families may be shrinking: The number of women aged 40 to 44 who had only one child roughly doubled between 1976 and 2014,” the WSJ reported.

The data also showed that a high percentage of women are cohabiting parents. Roughly one in five women whose first birth occurred between January 2000 and June 2014 were cohabiting at the time of the birth.

Even though America’s fertility rate currently stands at record lows, there has actually been an increase in the number of children being born to married mothers.

Census data released earlier this year found that the number of children born to married women rose three percent between 2010 and 2014. During the same period, births to unmarried women were down seven percent.

“Because severe recessions tend to temporarily impair fertility, the latest numbers suggest America’s married women are recovering from the financial crisis and 2007-09 economic gloom faster than their unmarried counterparts,” the WSJ reported.

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