M THE GREY-HAIRED BRIGADE OF FATHERS
ORE than 250 male pensioners father children each year, figures have revealed.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that there were 256 live births registered in 2016 in England and Wales where dads were aged at least 65 - the current age a person receives their state pension.
Of these dads, some 191 were aged 65 to 69.
There were 59 men aged 70-74 who fathered children in 2016, and six aged 75 and older.
If a dad had a baby aged 75, it means they’d be 86 by the time their child started secondary school.
Sadly, the odds are against older dads living long enough to see their children grow into adults, given that the average age of death for UK men is 79.2 years.
The number of pension-aged dads has actually remained relatively stable, though it is slightly down from 265 in 2015 and 258 in 2014.
Unlike women, men can continue having children until later life, because women’s fertility decreases with age but men never lose the ability to produce sperm.
The data shows that, generally, dads are getting older. One in every seven babies born in 2016 or 90,102 - had a father aged at least 40. That is up from one in every 18 babies born in 1980 to a dad aged at least 40. Although these dads are older, that data does not show if these men have fathered any other children previously.
Some dads may be having children later in life because they are waiting until they are more financially stable.
Just 7,750 babies in 2016 were born to dads under 20, including 117 who had a dad aged under 16.
Jeremy Davies, from think-tank The Fatherhood Institute, said: “The rise in older dads is mainly delay due to mothers and fathers delaying becoming parents, but there are also more ‘serial’ fathers - men who already have children going on to have more in later relationships. “Family poverty is a possible risk of later fatherhood if it is concerning low-income fathers.
“The main risk is death or dementia if men become fathers later on, particularly over the age of 60.”