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After decades of change, it appears the average age that women have a baby has stopped increasing and has remained relatively steady at 30 years old.
Figures from StatisticsNZ show that since 1981 the median age of mothers when they give birth has steadily increased, rising from 25.7 years old to 30.2 in 2003. But since then, for the first time, the average age has levelled off and remained at about 30.
Professor Lesley McCowan from the University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Science says there are number of factors which have contributed to the change.
She says the trend was always going to stop at some point, but greater education on the complications involved in having children at older ages may have contributed to the age stabilising at 30 years old, rather than rising even higher.
“There is also a lot more awareness of the difficulties around fertility at older ages.”
But, she says further research is needed to discover exactly what has been driving the change in the figures.
The number of children born to married and unmarried mothers has also stabilised after decades of change. In 1952, 96 per cent of children were born to married parents, but that has declined to 53.5 per cent, with 46.5 per cent of children born to unmarried parents.
