By Diana Barnes-Brown for Uterus1Health experts from the Center for Disease Control recently issued a statement that noted older women are having more babies than previously, with more women in their 30s and 40s opting to have children due to career and other concerns.
Women from 30 to 34 years old had 4 percent more children last year than in prior years with birth rates rising from 91.5 births per 1,000 women in 2002 to 95.2 births in 2003. For women from 35 and 39, the birth rate rose by 6 percent, and for women from 40 to 44, it rose by 5 percent.
Alternately, birth rates among 20- to 24-year-olds were down by 1 percent, while those among teens from 15 to 19 dropped slightly, as well; with 2003 the 12th year in a row, suggesting that talks about birth control and abstinence had been effective in curbing conception in this age group. Also, in females ages 10 to 14, the birth rate was the lowest in since the mid-1940s.
The data was compiled using birth records from every state in the United States, and is available directly from the CDC, and published in the recently released 2004 National Vital Statistics Report.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/
