Since the 1980s, the number of “late” pregnancies, i.e. at age 40 or more, has tripled, according to an INSEE study.
- The rate of women giving birth after 40 has tripled since 1980.
- In 2019, 42,800 babies were born to mothers in their forties, or 5.7% of births during this year.
- A quarter of children resulting from late pregnancies are their mother’s first.
Giving birth to a child after the age of 40 has become increasingly common in recent decades. According to work carried out by INSEE and published on January 10, the so-called “late” fertility rate is 3.4 times higher than in 1980, whereas the latter had continued to decline until the end of the 1940s.
42,800 “late” births in 2019
The number of late-term pregnancies began to increase in the mid-1970s. “In 2019, in France, 42,800 babies were born to mothers aged 40 or over. Thus, 5.7% of births in 2019 are ‘late’ births. The mother is most often 40 years old (one in three) or 41 (one in four)”, can we read in the data. The study specifies that in 2019 the fertility rate was estimated at 10.2 children per 100 women, aged between 40 and 50.
INSEE indicates that one in three “late” pregnancies occurred in couples who had no children in common. Half of these pregnancies took place in couples who had children together and lived under the same roof. Six times out of ten, the baby born after 40 is their third child. “Conversely, a quarter of babies from late pregnancies are their mother’s first, and more, a third, when the latter is a manager”, detail the results of the work.
Among the working women surveyed, executives are those with the highest late fertility. The researchers also found that this constantly increasing phenomenon was higher among women born abroad than among those born in France.
How can this rise in “late” fertility be explained?
Several reasons can explain the increase in the number of “late” births. According to the data, women postpone the age of childbearing because of the lengthening of their studies and the desire to be stabilized in their professional life before having children. Other origins of this increase in pregnancies after 40 years: later couple formation, more frequent re-partnership (divorce then remarriage) and the desire to have a child with a new partner. “The medicalization of contraception may also have facilitated this postponement”, specify the research.
.