More than ever, the American women choose their careers over starting a new family.
According to a statistics report released by the Centers for Disease Control on Thursday, more and more American women over 40 years old are having children. The women who are having children when they are over 50 years old increased as well.
From 2013 to 2014, the number of women with ages between 40 and 44 years old has increased with 2%, while the number of women over 50 years old has increased as well. In 2013, 677 women over 50 years old gave birth, and in 2014 that number grew to 743. The women with ages between 45 and 49 have maintained their numbers during that specific time frame. Even though the numbers indicate that the rise is not that high, according to CDC, the age increase for the women who give birth has been going up in the last decades. What is more intriguing is that the birth rates of the teenagers and of the young adults are lower than ever before.
One of the reasons that could stand behind this unusual change is the career pressure. A study done in 2015 by the Pew Research Center showed that 41% of women believe that having a baby only after their career is solid is the best method to go with. Professor Peter Cappelli from the Wharton University agrees, saying that the best job opportunities are offered for college graduates. The position advancement makes it hard to give up the career, and the women usually do it only when they know that it is almost too late.
There are some problems that arise after the age of 30 for the women who want to get pregnant. As the women grow older, their fertility keeps lowering. Also, more complications occur for them during the pregnancy. There are also psychological issues to be dealt with, as people tend to judge older pregnant women and then their careers tend to be questioned as well.
The CDC report showed that the average age of the American women that have their first child is 26. In Europe though, Eurostat showed that the average age of the European women having their first child is 29. There are parts of Asia where the average age of a woman that is having her first child is now 30. The average age of women having their first child increased form 24.9 in 2000, to 26.3 in 2014, but more and more American women over 40 years old are having children. The rates of the first time mothers under 20 decreased with 42% from 2000 until 2014. This is mostly because more and more awareness of contraception methods has been brought to the attention of the teenagers.
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