American women waiting to begin families.(maternal age rises)

2003 JAN 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The average American woman was almost 25 years old when she had her first child in the year 2000. That's compared with an average age of 21.4 years for a first birth in 1970, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report also shows that the average age of mothers for all births rose from 24.6 years to 27.2 over the past 3 decades.

More than half of all births still occur to women in their 20s - the peak childbearing years - but the average age in this group has shifted steadily upward since 1970. The increase in the average age of child birth also reflects the recent downturn in the teen birth rate and the rising birth rates for women in their 30s and 40s. The report is based on birth certificates filed in state vital statistics offices and reported to CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

The trend in delayed childbirth is universal - observed nationwide and among all groups in the U.S. population. Yet, the actual age at first or subsequent births varies greatly by state and by race and Hispanic origin. In 2000, the average age of women having their first child ranged from a low of 22.5 in Mississippi to a high of 27.8 years in Massachusetts.

The difference between the state with the lowest and highest average age has increased over the past 30 years. In 1970, Arkansas had the lowest average age for first birth at 20.2 and the highest age was reported by Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York (22.5 years).