Data released by the Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control has found that American women are becoming first time moms later in life.
It’s fairly common knowledge that women are delaying childbirth in general, but by how much may have long term population effects.
Data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics has found that American women are becoming first time moms later in life in comparison to the women of 40 years ago.
According to the report, mothers age 35 and older gave birth for the first time over 9 times more in 2012 in the 1970s.
While not discussed in this study, other research indicates extended periods of time at college, the subsequent pursuit of and dedication to careers and delayed marriages are all contributing to the trend.
Fertility technology has allowed the biological clock to tick a little longer making late, first-time motherhood easier.
The director of maternal fetal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Dr. Joanne Stone remarked “When a woman has her first child that can influence how many children she is going to have in the future….it affects the size of the population, the future growth of the population, as well as the composition of the population.”
The District of Columbia, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Carolina showed the biggest increases for new moms aged 40 to 44. Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington state, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, the District of Columbia and Wyoming had the highest percentages for new mothers aged 35 to 39.
