ATLANTA, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. women are delaying motherhood -- from 1970-2006 first births to women age 35 years and older increased nearly eight times, U.S. health officials said.
A study by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said from 1970-2006, the age of U.S. first-time births rose from age 21.4 to age 25.
The report said that in 2006, about 1 out of 12 first births were to women age 35 and older compared with 1 out of 100 in 1970. Since 1970, the average age at first birth has increased in all states with first-time births occurring 3.6 years later from 1970 and 2006.
The average age at first birth between 1970 and 2006 rose 5 years or more in the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, while increasing less than 2.5 years in Mississippi, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
In the United States in 2006, Asian and Pacific Islander women delayed their first children until age 28.5, while American Indian and Alaska natives had their first child at 21.9 years, the first birth for non-Hispanic white women was age 26, non-Hispanic blacks had a first birth at age 22.7 and Hispanic women at age 23.1.
