title: Delayed childbearing: more women are having their first child later in life.
abstract: Of particular interest to both researchers and the public is the "average" age of women when they have a child, especially their first. Age at first birth influences the total number of births that a woman might have in her life, which impacts the size, composition, and future growth of the population. The age of the mother, both younger and older, plays a strong role in a wide range of birth outcomes (e.g., birthweight, multiple births, and birth defects), so it is critical to track the average age at which women have their first birth.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Vital Statistics, 3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782, USA.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: Brady E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D043762:Reproductive Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult