Many of us remember the days when women would get chastised for not having had children by the age of 25. Those who hadn’t found a husband by their early 20s were already condemned to spinsterhood. But oh, how things have changed. Not only are people waiting until their 40s or even later to get married, many people are skipping this step altogether and having children on their own.
So what exactly are the trends these days? And what factors are driving them? Some of the answers are predictable, and others not as much. But one thing is for sure: you don’t have to be married by the age of 25 in most parts of the world to maintain an acceptable social standing. When the right time does come, women can track their ovulation and assess their physical preparedness by using an at home hormone test.
What the trends are
Before we get into the causes of what’s happening, we should first get an overview of what they are. To sum up, these are the current trends in childbirth:
- Average ages are going up. Not all women are having children in their 40s, but on average people are significantly longer than they ever did before to have children. In the US, women give birth to their first child at an average age of 29.6. In some other countries, the number is even higher. This represents a stark difference from even just a generation ago.
- There are fewer teen births. Alongside a rise in the average age of first births, there are also many fewer women in their teens and early 20s giving birth these days.
- There are fewer births overall. Naturally, alongside the pattern of giving birth later, women are also having fewer births than they ever did before. While this is not true in all parts of the world, it is universally true in highly urbanized societies. Many women still declare a desire to have only two children.
All these trends are helping empower women to take the family planning process into their own hands.
What is driving the trends
Let’s now take a look at the reasons behind what is happening. Later and lower levels of childbirth can basically be ascribed to five major causes:
- Rising cost of living. Particularly in Western countries–but not only–the cost of having families has gone way up in recent years. This is true for several reasons: with both parents often working, childcare costs have soared (and are often considered completely prohibitive in certain places). Inflation has hit many parts of the world particularly hard, and therefore it is becoming difficult or impossible for couples to buy a home. And the AI boom means that a lot of jobs have become unnecessary.
- Greater focus on careers. Along with the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s and 80s came a desire for women to have big power careers on the same level as men. Many of these careers require full-time devotion, and taking time out to have children–even if many jobs do provide maternity leave–is considered a major hindrance to career growth. Similarly, as higher education degrees are becoming more widespread, more and more women are going back for second or even third degrees to keep themselves competitive.
- Family and societal shifts. There used to be a major stigma associated with being unmarried, particularly for women. But this has changed dramatically. As marriage was once considered a financial necessity (indeed, people would essentially sell their daughters to future husbands for the receipt of a dowry), this is much less the case these days.
- Contraception stigma reduction. Many religious and societal groups used to frown upon the use of contraceptives. This stigma has been largely lifted in many parts of the world as the role of religion and traditional values fades in favor of greater cosmopolitanism.
- Access to advanced reproductive options. Many women would like to have children but don’t want motherhood to interfere with their prime career years. Reproductive technology has exploded in recent years, giving women many options for having children later in life. This includes advancements in in vitro fertilization and the option to freeze their eggs. As these options become more and more widespread, a much greater number of women are choosing to take advantage of them.
Not a catastrophic drop, but a big one
There are a few parts of the world where the reproductive rate has gotten so low that it causes major societal problems. In places like Japan and South Korea, the birthrate is below the societal replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. This means both that populations are declining in these places, and that there aren’t enough people available to take care of the elderly. Indeed, in societies like these, governments are actively incentivizing childbirth to ensure the continuation of the population.
Other societies are different. But in urbanized societies the trends are certainly clear. If you are a woman hoping to have children later in life, you are in luck. There are an increasing number of quality options available for you. So if you are hoping to have children, think about your timing carefully so that you can do the right planning.