Average age of mothers hits 30

The report from the ONS for 2013 also shows a standard decline in fertility in girls of all ages.

In 2013, there had been 698,512 births recorded in England and Wales, a decrease of 4.three% from 729,674 in 2012 and the greatest annual decrease considering that 1975.

Previously, the number of births had been increasing every single yr since 2001, with an exception of a .three per cent fall in 2009.

The regular amount of babies per woman has also decreased, from 1.94 in 2012 to one.85 in 2013.

The biggest declines in fertility costs were in girls aged underneath 24 even though the smallest decreases in fertility have been for girls aged 35 and over.

But the British Pregnancy Advisory Support (BPAS) explained that despite these “small” declines in 2013, growing numbers of girls had been delaying having children till later in lifestyle, with the fertility price for women aged 40 and more than possessing nearly trebled considering that 1991.

Ann Furedi, BPAS chief executive, stated: “Overall the fertility rate has decreased, with the most significant declines noticed in younger females. The common age of mothers in this country has hit thirty for the initial time as many females are deciding to start off their families later on in life.

“UK mothers are now on average older than girls elsewhere in the world when they have their first infant. There could be many motives for this, such as the time it requires to achieve educational and expert advancement, as effectively as fiscal security – and it could also be a reflection of how significantly couples take the duty of obtaining kids in the 21st century.

“While pregnancy and birth in older women may possibly present somewhat distinct challenges for healthcare professionals, the response is not to cajole women into getting infants before they are prepared but to make certain our family members planning and maternity services are set up to cater for the modifying wants and selections of women nowadays.”

Individually, the ONS figures display that in 2013, nearly half – 47.4 per cent – of all infants were born outside of marriage, in contrast with 47.5 per cent in 2012 and 41.4 per cent in 2003.

The ONS explained: “This continues the lengthy-term rise in the percentage of births outdoors marriage/civil partnership, which is constant with increases in the amount of couples cohabiting rather than coming into into marriage or civil partnership.”

The amount of births in England and Wales to mothers born outside of the United kingdom also continued to rise, from 18.six in 2003 to 26.5 per cent in 2013 while the number of stillbirths fell by seven.7 per cent, from three,558 in 2012 to 3,284 in 2013.

Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal University of Midwives, explained: “The numbers of births stays historically substantial. This modest drop in the birth-rate will enable the NHS to narrow the gap between the numbers of midwives we have and the amount we really need. We stay 4,500 midwives short in England and these figures need to not be a reason to slacken off, but to improve efforts to get far more midwives into the NHS.

“These midwives are also necessary due to the fact births are also becoming far more complicated for instance as the regular age of mothers increases. This puts further pressures on maternity services and midwives want to give these females the very best levels of care. They cannot do that if there are not ample of them.”

Average age of mothers hits 30