American Gen Z Parents Are Going Abroad to Give Birth—and They’re Not Looking Back

Vice ^ | May 7, 2025 | Ashley Fike

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Gen Z is hopping on planes for more than adventure—they’re doing it to have babies. A growing number of young American parents are choosing to give birth outside the U.S., often in countries with better healthcare, more generous parental leave, and cheaper delivery costs.

According to a new survey from Greenback Expat Tax Services, more than one in four Gen Z expats have already given birth abroad—and nearly two-thirds say they’re planning to.

Among all U.S. expats surveyed, 54% had already had a child while living abroad. Millennials lead the charge with nearly 3 in 5 reporting overseas births, but Gen Z is right behind—28% have already done it, and 63% are thinking about it.

Medical care quality, citizenship benefits, delivery costs, and leave policies ranked highest on the list of priorities. Around 80% of parents found the birth process more affordable abroad. Many also considered the long-term perks: countries offering birthright citizenship or dual nationality can give kids access to better travel, education, and global work options. Three in four expats said they’d pick a birth country specifically for these benefits.

Not everyone is completely sold. Nearly 1 in 3 expats said they’d consider returning to the U.S. for childbirth to guarantee American citizenship for their baby. About 47% said family or friends pressured them to go that route. But many are standing firm—more than 1 in 5 said they’d still opt for giving birth abroad.

[eclecticEel]

Misleading article, they are talking bout Americans who are already living abroad and don’t come back to give birth.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

You know what, you’re right the title itself should specify expat. It’s obviously only applying to Americans who have the ability to compare life here with other countries. (On the whole though Gen Z/millenials tend to be better travelled than prior generations as a rule.)

[Bikkuri]

Ah, ok. That makes sense ;^)

[Olog-hai]

Interesting; zero quotes from Trump by CNN, never mind the Kaiser “Family” Foundation, who wrote it and promotes “immigration” as the solution to the alleged/claimed problem.

[DeplorableTrumpSupporter]

As a young dad, I’ve yet to see anyone go to Dubai, South Korea or Germany to give birth. Maybe <1% is doing that...

[Albion Wilde]

“Among all U.S. expats surveyed,” Very small sample size

Probably a self-selected expat mom's group on Facebook.

[FoxInSocks]

Hi, you seem to be taking some heat here. First, I don’t believe that US health care generally lags all other countries, so that’s my bias. It’s expensive, but the quality must be among the best in the world.

I think comparing countries based on such a simple metric is bound to be misleading. For one thing, simply consider quality of data and multiple definitions in countries around the world.

Secondly, this is a report based on a single headline-grabbing metric. There are numerous issues with such an approach, some of which have been pointed out already. I’ve read a little bit about similar issues related to infant mortality before.

Importantly, the US CDC has been retroactively revising criteria and amending its requested data over the last 15 years or so. One readily available recent article examines some of the relevant issues in this case: https://www.aei.org/op-eds/is-the-us-really-an-outlier-on-pregnancy-deaths-and-have-such-deaths-spiked/ It’s not too long.