South Korean women now become first-time mothers at an average age of 32.6, the oldest recorded among OECD countries, followed closely by Ireland and Spain at 32.1. American women, by contrast, remain among the youngest first-time mothers in the developed world at 26.4 to 26.9, more than five years younger than their South Korean counterparts despite both countries sharing similarly advanced economies. The gap illustrates that delayed motherhood, while a nearly universal trend among wealthy nations, has not proceeded at the same pace or reached the same point everywhere.
What Is the Average Age of Motherhood?
Several related but distinct measures appear across the data on this topic, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes made when comparing countries. Mean age at first childbirth measures specifically when women have their first child. Mean age at childbearing, sometimes reported separately, includes births of all orders, first, second, third and beyond, and therefore tends to run somewhat higher in countries where women continue having children into their late 30s or 40s.
“Advanced maternal age,” a clinical term used in obstetric research, generally refers to pregnancy at 35 or older, a threshold associated with specific, well-documented increases in certain pregnancy risks, though the exact age cutoff varies across studies and countries.
Are Mothers Getting Older?
Across the European Union, Eurostat data confirm a steady, near-universal rise: the mean age of women at the birth of their first child climbed from 28.7 in 2013 to 29.3 in 2018 and to 29.4 by 2019, with the increase recorded in every single EU member state over that period, though at very different speeds.
Estonia recorded the largest shift of any EU country, its mean first-birth age rising by 1.2 years between 2013 and 2018 alone, moving from 26.5 to 27.7, with Latvia and Lithuania close behind at 1.1-year increases each.
EU Mean Age at First Childbirth Over Time
| Year | EU Average | Estonia (Largest Mover) | Highest (Italy) | Lowest (Bulgaria) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 28.7 | 26.5 | n/a | n/a |
| 2018 | 29.3 | 27.7 | 31.2 | 26.2 |
| 2019 | 29.4 | 28.2 | 31.3 | 26.3 |
Source: Eurostat, “Fertility statistics” and related news releases, 2020-2021.
Where Women Have Children Later
Italy has consistently ranked among the oldest first-birth countries in Europe across every recent measurement year, recording 31.2 in 2018 and 31.3 in 2019, with Spain and Luxembourg close behind at just over 31 in the same years. By 2020,
Italy’s own national statistics put the average age at first childbirth at 31 years overall, with regional variation within the country itself: Sardinia recorded the oldest average first-time-mother age of any Italian region, while Sicily and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano recorded the youngest, both at 30. By 2021, Italy’s national average age for any childbirth, not just the first, had risen to 32.3, with women aged 30 to 34 the single largest group of new mothers, accounting for 34.9 percent of all births, and 8.7 percent of all Italian births occurring to mothers over 40.
South Korea’s national data confirm it as the clear global outlier at the oldest end: Statista’s compiled figures put South Korea’s average age of mothers at first birth at 31.4 to 32.6 depending on the measurement year, the highest among OECD countries in every comparison in which it appears.
Selected Average Age at First Childbirth by Country
| Country | Average Age at First Birth | Year |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea | 31.4-32.6 | 2018-2023 |
| Ireland | 32.1 | recent OECD |
| Spain | 31.0-32.1 | 2018-recent |
| Italy | 31.0-31.3 | 2018-2020 |
| Luxembourg | 30.9-31.1 | 2018-2019 |
| Greece | 30.4 | 2018 |
| United Kingdom | 28.7 | recent |
| Canada | 28.5 | recent |
| Bulgaria | 26.1-26.3 | 2017-2019 |
| Romania | 26.7-26.9 | 2018-2019 |
| United States | 26.4-26.9 | 2018 |
Sources: Eurostat; Statista compilation of Pew Research and OECD-linked national statistics.
Where Motherhood Still Begins Earlier
Bulgaria and Romania consistently record the youngest first-birth ages within the EU, both below 27 across every year examined, roughly five years younger than Italy or Spain within the same currency and regulatory bloc, illustrating that even within a single economic union, cultural, economic and historical factors can produce a persistent multi-year gap in maternal age.
The United States sits in a similar position globally: despite being one of the world’s wealthiest economies, its average first-birth age of 26.4 to 26.9 places it closer to lower-income EU countries than to peer nations like Canada (28.5) or the UK (28.7), let alone South Korea.
Why Is Motherhood Being Delayed?
The forces driving later motherhood mirror those documented across the broader fertility decline and marriage-timing trends: rising female educational attainment and workforce participation, delayed marriage in societies where childbearing remains linked to marital status, higher housing and childcare costs in expensive urban markets, growing economic uncertainty for young adults, and wider access to reliable contraception, which gives women more control over the timing of pregnancy than in previous generations.
South Korea’s position at the extreme end of the delay spectrum aligns closely with its position at the extreme low end of overall fertility, suggesting the same underlying pressures, intense educational and career competition, high housing costs and demanding work culture, are driving both trends simultaneously.
First Birth Versus All Births
These two measures answer genuinely different questions and can diverge meaningfully. Mean age at first birth captures when women begin their families; mean age at all childbearing captures the full span of a woman’s reproductive years, weighted toward however many children she has and how far apart she spaces them.
In Italy, for instance, the reported all-births average of 32.3 in 2021 was roughly a year above the first-birth-only figure for a nearby year, reflecting the tail of later-order births continuing among some mothers into their late 30s and early 40s. Countries with larger average family sizes and later spacing between children will tend to show a bigger gap between the two measures than countries where most women have only one or two children close together.
Later Motherhood and Fertility
The relationship between later motherhood and completed family size is well established in demographic research: postponing the first birth compresses the biological and often the social window for additional children, contributing to lower average family sizes in the countries where first-birth age has risen the most. However, the relationship is not perfectly linear.
Countries like France and Sweden have managed comparatively higher fertility rates than some of their later-marrying, later-childbearing peers, suggesting that family policy support, including childcare availability and parental leave provisions, can partially offset the fertility cost of delayed childbearing, though it rarely eliminates it entirely.
What Later Motherhood Means for Demography
Rising maternal age interacts directly with several other major demographic shifts documented across this cluster. It contributes to falling period fertility rates, since later first births leave less time within a woman’s reproductive years for additional children even when desired family size has not changed. It also intersects with the medical literature on advanced maternal age, which documents elevated risks for certain pregnancy complications as maternal age rises, a factor increasingly relevant to public health planning as the share of births to mothers over 35 continues climbing in most higher-income countries.
At a population level, delayed childbearing also lengthens generational spacing, meaning population momentum, the tendency for population to keep growing or shrinking based on existing age structure even after fertility rates change, unfolds somewhat more slowly than it would if women had children at younger ages.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the average age of motherhood?
It varies substantially by country and by whether first births only or all births are measured; among OECD countries, South Korea records the oldest average age at first birth, around 32.6, while the United States records one of the youngest among wealthy nations, around 26.4 to 26.9.
2. What country has the oldest first-time mothers?
South Korea, with an average age at first birth of approximately 32.6 years in recent OECD-linked data, followed closely by Ireland and Spain, both around 32.1.
3. Why are women having children later?
Rising education and career participation among women, delayed marriage, higher housing and childcare costs, greater economic uncertainty for young adults, and wider access to reliable contraception have all contributed to the sustained, near-universal rise in maternal age at first birth across wealthy countries.
4. Does later motherhood reduce fertility?
It generally contributes to lower fertility by compressing the years available for childbearing, though the relationship is not absolute; countries with strong family policy support, such as France and Sweden, have partially offset the fertility effect of delayed childbearing relative to some peer countries.
5. Which EU country has seen the biggest increase in mother’s age?
Estonia recorded the largest shift among EU member states, with its mean age at first childbirth rising by 1.2 years between 2013 and 2018 alone, from 26.5 to 27.7, the fastest pace of change recorded in the bloc.
6. Which EU countries have the youngest first-time mothers?
Bulgaria and Romania consistently rank lowest within the EU, both recording average first-birth ages below 27 across every recent measurement year, roughly five years younger than Italy or Spain.
7. What is the difference between mean age at first birth and mean age at childbearing?
Mean age at first birth measures only when a woman has her first child. Mean age at childbearing includes births of all orders and tends to run higher in countries where women continue having children into their late 30s or early 40s.
8. What is considered “advanced maternal age”?
Generally, pregnancy at age 35 or older, a clinical threshold associated in medical research with increased risk of certain maternal and perinatal complications, though the precise age cutoff used varies somewhat across studies and countries.
9. Is delayed motherhood only happening in wealthy countries?
No, though it began there. The trend has spread to a widening range of countries, including China, Turkey and Iran, as education, urbanization and economic development patterns associated with delayed childbearing extend beyond the traditionally wealthiest nations.
10. How has the average age of mothers changed over time in the EU as a whole?
It rose from 28.7 in 2013 to 29.4 by 2019, an increase recorded in every EU member state over that period, though the pace ranged from as little as 0.1 to 0.2 years in Slovakia and Slovenia to as much as 1.2 years in Estonia.
Sources
- Eurostat, “Women in the EU are having their first child later,” 2020-2021 news releases
- Eurostat, “Fertility statistics,” Statistics Explained database
- Wikipedia/OECD-sourced compilation, “Advanced maternal age,” average first-birth age by country
- Statista, “When Women Become Mothers,” Pew Research Center-based international comparison
- Italian Ministry of Health/Istituto Superiore di Sanità, average age of first-time mothers by region, 2019-2021 data
- Statistics Korea, average maternal age at first birth, 1993-2023 series
