The 2021 data, which goes back until before WWII, shows the average age of mothers in England and Wales is now 30.9 years. This is nearly 5 years older than in the 1970s.
Completing the family
And this particular landscape has been changing for many years.” The researchers looked at women ages 45-49, so near the end of their childbearing years, and asked when they last had a child. The median age for last birth was 31, with racial and ethnic variation.
Not just your dad, greying and irritable, where once he was young and irritable, but fathers in general. According to the most recent data from the Office of National Statistics, the average age of a first-time father in the UK is now 33.6 years old, which amounts to a year-on-year increase since at least 2016.
These figures refer to all births; however, the standardised average age of women having a first birth in 2014 was 28.5 years, compared with 28.3 in 2013 and 27.1 in 2004 (background note 6 has more information).
In 2012 the standardised average (mean) age of all mothers giving birth in England and Wales was 29.8 years, a small increase compared with 29.7 years in 2011 (see background note 6 for more information).
These figures refer to all births; however, the standardised average age of women having a first birth (see background note 8) in 2011 was estimated to be 27.9 years of age, compared with 27.7 in 2010 and 26.6 in 2001.
By age 43, your egg supply is near its end. Your risk of pregnancy complications, such as high blood pressure and gestational diabetes, increases after 35 as well, and continues to rise into your 40s. Miscarriage rates begin to skyrocket in your 40s as well.
By 2020, one-half of first-time mothers (53%) was aged 30 years or over. The proportion of first-time mothers who were aged 35 years and older increased markedly in this time. Before 1991, it was uncommon for women to start childbearing at age 35 years or older (up to 5%).
But the average age of women at first birth today (29.6) is not very different to what it was in 1938 (29.0), and fertility among women in their forties was higher at the start of WWII and during the 1940s than it was in 2010.
Many women or birthing people chose to have a baby after the age of 40 and most will have healthy pregnancies. For some, however, as with having a baby at any age, there can be complications in pregnancy and childbirth.
There's no expiration date on when guys can father a child. Case in point: Rocker Mick Jagger just had his eighth child at the age of 73. Since men don't hit menopause—the time in a woman's life where her fertility ends—they can typically continue to father children into their later years.
Best biological times to have a baby
Typically, the 20s mark a time of high fertility for both males and females. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, females experience a slight reduction in fertility in their early 30s, and this will decrease significantly between the ages of 35 and 45.
Women who become pregnant in their 30s and early 40s can have safe, healthy pregnancies, says Ellie Ragsdale, MD, director of fetal intervention at UH Cleveland Medical Center. But they do face a higher risk of some problems.
The median age (half are younger and half older than this age) of New Zealand women giving birth was 30 years in 2017. In comparison, the median age of women giving birth in the 1970s was 25 years.
Geriatric pregnancy is a rarely used term for having a baby when you're 35 or older. Rest assured, most healthy women who get pregnant after age 35 and even into their 40s have healthy babies.
Average age of mothers in the UK 1938-2021
Between 1991 and 2021 there has been a clear trend of mothers having children later in life in the United Kingdom, with the average age of mothers in the increasing from 27.7 in 1991 to 30.9 by 2021.
Birth data for England and Wales has been used to look at trends in the most and least popular birth dates over the past two decades. It reveals that highest number of births occur at the end of September. The interactive graphic shows the average number of births on any given day and the rank from first to 366th.
The average age young people leave home in Australia is 23 for men, and 24 for women. Sara, 27, was a few years beyond the national average when she decided to move out last December.
Between 1990 and 2010, the median age of fathers of nuptial births increased by almost three years, from 31.4 to 34.0 years, while the median age of fathers of ex-nuptial births who acknowledged the birth of their child also increased, from 27.3 years to 29.9 years.
If you get pregnant after 35 years old, experts call this an “advanced maternal age” pregnancy. But it's still possible to get pregnant and deliver a healthy baby in your 40s. Childbirth at older ages has become more common too. Since the 1990s, birth rates in people aged 40-44 have gone up.
Down syndrome occurs in people of all races and economic levels. The risk increases with the mother's age (1 in 1250 for a 25 year old mother to 1 in 1000 at age 31, 1 in 400 at age 35, and about 1 in 100 at age 40).
Success rates decline even more rapidly in your early 40s. Though plenty of mums over the age of 35 have healthy pregnancies, you do have increased risk of ongoing health conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. These conditions can affect how well your pregnancy and birth goes.
No, you are not – although it greatly depends on a number of factors too. Some women start ovulating soon after having a baby, and they are certainly fertile during that time, but that is not the case in general. Most women are less fertile after delivery.