More women in the US waiting till 30s and 40s to have children

During the pandemic, some women at the end of their reproductive years may have given up on becoming parents or having more children because of economic uncertainties and greater health risks for pregnant women, said Choi. Photo: Daigae Ellaby/Unsplash

For Allyson Jacobs, life in her 20s and 30s was about focusing on her career in health care and enjoying the social scene in New York City. It wasn’t until she turned 40 that she and her husband started trying to have children. They had a son when she was 42.

Over the past three decades, that has become increasingly common in the United States, as birthrates have declined for women in their 20s and jumped for women in their late 30s and early 40s, according to a new report from the US Census Bureau. The trend has pushed the median age of US women giving birth from 27 to 30, the highest on record.