Across Asia, a new class of childless-by-choice couples emerge: meet the DINKs

Seema was 14 when she first decided she did not want to have children. At the time, her mother laughed it off as a childish fancy, telling Seema she would one day change her mind.

But nearly 20 years later, the 34-year-old financial analyst in New Delhi has not wavered on her stance – deeply straining her relationship with her parents.

“They have not spoken to me in almost three years,” Seema said, asking to use only her first name to protect her identity. “I don’t know if they will ever come around to my decision.”

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Seema and her husband refer to themselves as a DINK couple – an acronym for “double income, no kids”.

Seema met her husband Rajiv while they were both studying at university. The couple were surprised to find that they shared similar views on not wanting to have children. They’ve now been married for six years.

“I was shocked to find someone who felt the same way as me about no kids,” Seema said. “Especially because in our culture, the norm is nuclear families – a mother, a father and children … and anything that deviates from that is looked down upon.”

Singapore couple Corinne Chow, a communications professional, and Ryan Tan, who works in commodities, shared one such video on TikTok, in which they walked viewers through what their lives looked like as a 36-year-old DINK couple.

The video sparked some “interesting conversations” in the comments section, Chow said.

“There’s one camp that says this is why you should have kids, and another that says this is why you shouldn’t,” she said. “For us, it is about not getting blindsided by societal constructs. If you want to have kids, that’s great. If you don’t want to have kids, that’s