Most births in Europe are to mothers in their thirties

For many decades, most children in Europe were born to mothers in their twenties. However, since the mid-1970s, there has been a steady increase in the number of women giving birth in their thirties.

As the chart shows, since 2015, women in their thirties have given birth to the greatest number of babies; in the same year, it became more common for a woman in her forties to give birth than for women in their teens.

Many factors are causing these changes, including women spending more years in education and developing their careers, easily accessible contraception, improvements in fertility treatment, and high childcare costs.

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Where this page came from

This page was imported from Our World in Data. “Most births in Europe are to mothers in their thirties” by Fiona Spooner, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

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