Older mothers fuelling biggest ever baby boom

900,000 pregnancies in a year beats post-war record

A BOOM in motherhood among older women has driven up the number of pregnancies to record levels, official figures revealed yesterday.

For the first time, more than 900,000 women became pregnant in a year, a level not reached even during the baby boom years after World War Two.

The unprecedented number of conceptions was fuelled by the fast-rising rates of pregnancy among women in their 30s and 40s. The latest figures show that 40-somethings were becoming pregnant in 2010 at more than double the rate of two decades ago.

In a single year, conception rates for women in this age group rose by 5.2 per cent. The increase for those aged 34 to 39 was 4.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent for those aged 30 to 34.

The Office for National Statistics said the latest leap was down to the race among working women to catch up and have the families they missed out on in their 20s.

This is a new influence in addition to the factors driving rates in recent years: high immigration and the arrival in Britain of large numbers of women of child-bearing age who then have families.

Many women may also be influenced by the recession making family life more important. Newly jobless women and those with less work also have more time for family.

The report said the rise in numbers of conceptions ‘ could be attributed to the increased contribution of women aged 30 and over, or possibly due to the economic climate following the 2008- 2009 recession.

‘Family may also be valued more highly during tough economic times and, as parents could be out of work, they may have more time to spend on child rearing.’

The ONS said the reasons for more over-40s conceiving include delaying motherhood by participating in higher education, holding off on marriage and the desire to get ahead in their careers to buy a home and be financially secure before starting a family.

Migrants who were not in Britain in their early child-bearing years have also boosted levels by becoming mothers later in life, said the report.

According to the 2010 figures, 909,245 women in England and Wales became pregnant. This was a rise of 1.4 per cent on the 896,466 pregnancies in the previous year.

There were 723,165 babies born with the average age for new mothers now almost 30.

Just over one in five of the pregnancies, slightly fewer than 190,000, ended in abortion. Half of conceptions to girls under 18 ended in terminations.

There have not been so many pregnancies in England and Wales before.

Numbers have never reached 900,000 since the 1967 Abortion Act came into operation, legalising terminations.

The baby boom peaked in 1964, when there were 880,173 maternities, which are comparable to conceptions now. In the post-war year of 1947, there were 891,504 maternities.

According to the latest figures, conception rates for women in their 20s remained flat.

Those in their early 30s were the least probable to have an abortion, with 12.6 cent of pregnancies among 30 to 34-year- olds terminated in 2010.

This is the age group where they are most likely to marry and settle