Study: Age of First-Time Moms Is Going Up

Women in the U.S. and other developed countries are waiting significantly longer before having their first children than new moms of a generation ago, according to a study by the CDC.

The average age of first-time mothers in the U.S. jumped from 21.4 in 1970 to 25 in 2006, an increase of 3.6 years, according to a report in the August edition of NCHS Data Brief, a publication of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

By comparison, the average age at first birth in Switzerland is 29.4 and in Japan is 29.2.

One explanation of the change in average age of first-time mothers is that the proportion of first births to women 35 and older has increased nearly eight times since 1970, the researchers say.

Researchers T.J. Mathews, MS, and Brady E. Hamilton, PhD, both of the National Center for Health Statistics, say average age at first birth is important because it influences the total number of children a woman might have as well as the population's size and future growth. A mother's age is also a factor in birth outcomes such as birth weight and birth defects.

The study also shows:
• The average age at first birth has risen five years or more in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, while increasing less than 2.5 years in Mississippi, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
• Since 1990, average age at first birth has increased across all racial and ethnic groups.
• Asian or Pacific Islander women had the oldest average age at first birth, at 28.5, and American Indian or Alaska Native women the youngest at 21.9.
• In 1970, average age at first birth was lowest in Arkansas at 20.2 and highest at 22.5 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. In 2006, Mississippi had the lowest average age at 22.6 and Massachusetts the highest, 27.7.
• The average for non-Hispanic white women was higher at 26 than for the U.S. population as a whole, 25. The average for non-Hispanic black women was 22.7 and the average for Hispanic women was 23.1.
By Bill Hendrick
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
?2009 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved

[luckyron]

Im surprised to see the age of first time mothers going up with all the teenage moms I see out there.

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[Carson32]

I believe women should focus on getting their lives on track before having kids. It's only positive that the avg age of first time mothers is rising!

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[Rolton]

I have worked with mums that have killed their babies, and without going into detail, I realised that a mum thinks no one can look after their child as well as them.I am talking extreme circumstances like being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

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[ibsteve2u]

lollll...hey, you notice how people are jumping on obesity, smoking, and so forth as voluntary decisions that should be legislated away because they "raise health care costs for all of us"?

When is somebody going to jump upon women's choosing to delay pregnancy until later years, when the risk of complications is higher thus "raising health care costs for all of us"?

lollllllll.....

[Freword]

I think it is a good thing

[Ginurse]

I had three children after I was 35 years old and had no fertility issues...I waited so that I could have a solid education, stable and good paying job. I am glad I did things the way I did because I can enjoy my children and know that I won't have to struggle. I think it's an individual thing.I am not critical of people who have children at a young age, but for me it was not the right thing to do.

[MPHgrad]

Funny, if people only knew welfare payments only account for 3-4% of the federal budget, yet they insist that it is such a drain on the economy. Defense spending gets the highest percentage typically ranging from 30-45% depending on political stability internationally.

[trixie8476]

Agreed, but really 3-4% of the budget is A LOT! People on welfare should have to get Depo-provera shots while receiving benefits. It's sickening to have more children when you can't raise the ones you have already, yet people do it all the time.

[Meg003]

You are missing the point. The money encourages poor, uneducated teens and young women to have more babies than educated couples do. Our population growth is greatest in the least competent group of people. That is not a good thing.

[rf35]

Notice the breakdown of states. The women in predominantly "red" states have lower average first birth rates than those in mostly "blue" states. I wonder if this has to do with the red schools concentrating more on abstinence-based sex-ed.

I think it good that American women are waiting to have children. Get some living of your own done before you start trying to raise kids. Hopefully, it will also lower then total number of births...something desperately needed to bring population growth under control. Just think of the strain all those little consumers put on the environment, health care, etc. 90% of what's wrong in the world today can be traced back to overpopulation.

[John_Merritt]

And don't forget lack in moral standards and absence of parents participating actively in their children's life, and the glorification of sex in many advertising models in the media and mainstream, and the decline of social mores, and the acceptance of 'anything goes', and the laxity in thought regarding sex and the teenager (young adult), and co-ed habitation in the campuses around the country, and the allowance of our higher educational systems allowing unfettered alcohol parties on their campuses, and the laxity and enforcement of our laws regarding sex with minors, pedophiles and such.

Overpopulation can be traced to one main ingredient and that is lack of birth control in 3rd world countries. Look at India and Africa. Do you think God requires us to act RESPONSIBILY? How responsible is it when a mother cannot provide food for one, yet she has 5-6?

I think God gave us this 'coconut' in order to reason, to learn and to know. Where is the rationale when you promote the largesse of families and yet you cannot provide for them? Who suffers when that happens? The children invariably.

We have lost our ability to reason, to calculate and compute what is rationale thought. People should not have more children than they can afford. If you can only afford one, you should not have five. But yet we have some who say birth control is immoral, and against God's will. If everyone were millionaires that argument might fly. But when you have a great majority of the world's population flying under the weight of the economic system, and can't afford to provide for what they have; why are we encouraging them to have more babies?

And why are we not helping people become more self sustaining and reliant through education and training? When you get down to it, abstinence in light of arguing against birth control and abortion is much more RESPONSIBLE and HEALTHY and RATIONALE.

Sign me: Keep those emails coming.

[Meg003]

If we slash welfare, we would do more to save the planet than all the green programs put together. Poor women have more babies everywhere in the world. Here in the U.S. poor women plan their children around free Head Start daycare, getting the kids in school for free breakfast and lunch, and food stamps of several hundred dollars a month. If you stop paying women to have babies, they would choose to have fewer children.

[formrusmcsgt]

Good.

Now we get the percentage of them who are married increased and we'll be doing something.

[Meg003]

Women who postpone having their first children to complete their educations and establish careers face an increased risk of infertility and breast cancer.

[jennifer_va]

While studies may support, I would also offer a different view. Women obtaining their educational and career goals first go along way to ensuring an ability to provide for themselves and their families in times where a two parent working household is quite likely or may even require the woman to be the primary for some time. Hopefully, a mixture of not waiting too long and if needed science can take care of the rest.