Women In Their 30s Having More Babies in US: CDC Report

Health experts at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the US have released new data that states that women in their 30s are now having more babies than younger women.

This comes as a surprise because for the last three decades, women in their late 20s had the highest birth rates. However, experts say that more and more women are waiting much longer to have children because of the advancement of medicine, and the ability to have children later in life. This trend also exists because there are fewer teen pregnancies in the US now.

The birth rate for women between the ages of 30 and 34 is about 103 births per 100,000 women. In women aged 25 to 29, it is 102 per 100,000 women. The average age at which women have children in the United States is 28 years.

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In India, things are different, the average age that men and women get married is 22.8 years, which is one of the lowest in the world. Child marriage is another reason which adds to this. Around 47% of girls in India are married off before their 18th birthday. Since this is a reality in India, the birth rate also is a low number.  In India, the trend is more towards younger births. It is rare to see women above the age of 30 years giving birth.

In India, once a woman is married, her parents and society pressurise her to have kids. Indian parents believe that the younger you are when you have babies, the better it is.

A woman should know that it is her choice to have babies whenever she wants. If she doesn’t want to have babies, it should be her choice too. Modern independent women in India understand this and implement it, however, women in rural areas have little choice and are still expected to do things the old way.

Also read: Why don’t we applaud women who don’t want kids?