Rise of the older mum

Pregnancies in over-30s set to outnumber those among 20-somethings

THE number of pregnancies among 30-something women is set to overtake those among women in their 20s for the first time.

Latest figures show that in 2016, 398,346 women in England and Wales over the age of 30 had a pregnancy.

That included 28,744 women aged 40 and over, the Office for National Statistics reports. Among women in their twenties there were 408,328 pregnancies and the total fell by more than 10,000 between 2015 and 2016.

That means, that if the trend continues, it will take just a year for them to be overtaken by pregnancies in older women.

The ONS report adds: ‘ Since 1990 the conception rate for women aged 35 to 39 years, and 40 and over, has more than doubled. The 30 to 34 age group is the youngest group for which conception rates have risen almost continuously since 1990, rising by over one-third.

‘ Reasons for an increased number of women conceiving at 30 and over include increased par- ticipation in higher education, increased female participation in the labour force, increased importance of a career, the rising opportunity costs of childbearing, labour market uncertainty and housing factors.’

Nicola Haines of the ONS said: ‘The overall conception rate in England and Wales was the lowest recorded since 2005. This could be a consequence of declining conception rates for women aged under 25 years.’

A gap in lifestyles and behaviour has opened between older and younger pregnant women – who are much more likely to end a pregnancy with an abortion. Of the 161,181 conceptions for women under 20, nearly a third (31.6 per cent) ended in abortion.

In comparison, nearly one in five (18.9 per cent) of the 247,147 conceptions among women aged 25 to 29 were terminated.

However, among women in their early 30s, just 14.2 per cent of 242,541 pregnancies ended in an abortion.

And while most women who become pregnant under the age of 30 are single or living with a man in a cohabiting relationship, most pregnant women over 30 are married. Nearly six out of every ten women in their 30s who became pregnant were married, while only around four out of ten women pregnant in the second half of their 20s were married.

Married women made up the majority of those who became pregnant in all age groups over 30, and none of the groups under 30.

The rise of the older mother has meant another record year for pregnancies among women who have delayed motherhood.

The fertility rate, the number of conceptions for every 1,000 women, rose in the 40 to 44 age group. This made the over-40s the only group of women among whom rates rose at a time of generally falling numbers of pregnancies.

However the increased rate among over-40s was a result of a population blip which meant there were fewer women in the age group.

Actual numbers of pregnancies among women over 40 in 2016 fell, from 29,190 in 2015 to 28,744.