19.5 million people are missing

**Generation Z: The Missing 19.5 Million — How Abortion Shaped a Vanishing Generation**

Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, is notably smaller than it should be. According to analyses based on statistics from the **Guttmacher Institute**, approximately **28% of this cohort — about 19.5 million conceived children — were never born due to abortion**.

This figure, which has gone viral in public debates throughout 2025, is not a sensationalist invention but the result of rigorous estimates combining birth and abortion data reported in the United States during that period.

**Abortion rates are now at their highest level in more than a decade.** Guttmacher has been tracking the number of abortions in the U.S. since 1973, revealing large fluctuations in incidence as access to and demand for abortion services have changed.

While the **U.S. Census Bureau** currently records around **69.3 million living Gen Z members**, the absence of those 19.5 million represents a **generational void** already felt in the workforce, economy, and social cohesion.

This massive loss is not an isolated phenomenon born from progressive left-wing ideology that has normalized abortion as an “accessible right,” but rather a legacy of permissive policies dating back to **Roe v. Wade (1973)**.

The **Guttmacher Institute**, historically linked to **Planned Parenthood**, documents that between 1997 and 2011, at least **19.5 million abortion procedures** were performed — nearly **one in every three pregnancies** among women aged 15 to 44.

Although the institute reported a general abortion rate that fell to **13.5 per 1,000 women** in 2017, the figures for Gen Z reflect a peak during an era of wider access to clinics and abortion pills, driven by radical feminist agendas that prioritize “autonomy” over human life.

The **Population Research Institute**, after cross-referencing data from the **CDC** and **Kaiser Family Foundation**, adjusts this estimate to 21%, recognizing underreporting in states such as California, but agreeing that **Gen Z lost at least 16 million potential contributors**.

The economic impact is devastating and predictable for any society that sacrifices its future workers. With Gen Z representing only **20% of the total U.S. population** — compared to **25% for millennials** — experts from the **Pew Research Center** warn of chronic labor shortages in key sectors like healthcare, technology, and manufacturing.

Imagine: **26 million fewer people** competing for housing, but also fewer taxpayers to sustain programs like **Social Security**, which already faces a projected **$2.8 trillion shortfall by 2034**, according to the **Trustees’ annual report**.

**Childcare costs**, ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 per year per child in 2025, have not decreased; instead, reduced labor supply has driven prices higher in a vicious cycle. Countries like **England and Wales**, where **29.7% of conceptions in 2022 ended in abortion** — a historic record — face similar collapses, with fertility rates well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.

Culturally, this **“ghost generation”** erodes the pillars of family and faith that have long sustained Western civilization. The **World Health Organization (WHO)** estimates that globally, **29% of pregnancies end in abortion**, erasing between **800 and 900 million lives** between 1997 and 2012.

These numbers are an **urgent call to action** — what’s needed are not just new policies but education that empowers mothers: **real subsidies for families, not for Planned Parenthood clinics**, and education that restores the **value of life from conception**.

Gen Z is already a generation struggling with record levels of depression and isolation. **Investing in life is not charity — it’s survival.**

If we fail to reverse this demographic hemorrhage, the West will continue to bleed into decline, leaving behind a legacy of selfishness instead of hope.