Women are redefining the traditional idea of family as more and more women choose to prioritize their financial and professional goals, delaying having children until later in life.
For the first time, the average age of American women giving birth reached 27 in the US, the highest ever recorded and up from 21 in 1970 – when the government first started tracking the ages of new mothers.
That age is even higher among college-educated women, whose average age at first birth is around 30.
However, the age of new mothers varies from country to country, with coastal areas and liberal hamlets having an average older age at first pregnancy compared to rural areas, the Great Plains and the South.
Nine of the 10 states with the youngest first-time mothers were in the South, while coastal states and liberal enclaves in the Northeast had a higher percentage of older first-time mothers.
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The Birth Injury Lawyers Group analyzed 2021 birth rate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expressed as the number of births per 1,000 women in two separate age groups: teens and older adults in their 40s.
Arkansas had the largest share of youngest new mothers on average, with a birth rate of 26.5 births per 1,000 women in the 15 to 19 age group, nearly twice the national average of 13.9 births per 1,000 women in that age range.
Mississippi averaged the second-highest rate of youngest new mothers, with 25.6 births per 1,000 women in that age range, more than 82 percent above the national average.
Louisiana ranked third with 24.5 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19.
Oklahoma finished fourth and Alabama rounded out the top five.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Texas and New Mexico, where the birth rate for women ages 15 to 19 was about 37 percent above the national average.
Meanwhile, all the states with the largest shares of oldest new mothers on average were on the East Coast, with the exception of Hawaii, California and Alaska.
New York had the largest share of older mothers of any state, with a birth rate of 17.5 births per 1,000 women in the 40 to 44 age group.
New York's birth rate among older new mothers was about 46 percent above the national average birth rate for women in that age group.
The U.S. average is 12 births per 1,000 women ages 40 to 44.
New Jersey had the second-highest share of older new mothers on average, with a rate of 17 births per 1,000 women ages 40 to 44, which is about 42 percent above the national average.
Hawaii and California took places three and four and Massachusetts finished in fifth place.
The top 10 was completed by Maryland, Alaska and Connecticut (tied for seventh), Virginia and Rhode Island.
National data from the CDC has previously shown the birth rate for women ages 40 to 44 rose by four percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching a record high.
There was also a 12 percent increase among women aged 45 to 49, from 0.9 births per 1,000 women in 2021 to 1.1 in 2022, the first change in this rate since 2015, and another record level.
The increase among older women having children comes as the fertility rate in America hovers just below 1.7 births per woman. It hit a low of 1.6 in 2020, as the pandemic led many couples to delay having children.
For women aged 40 to 44, the fertility rate was 12.5 births per 1,000 women, while for women in the older age group it was 1.1 per 1,000.
But birth rates continued to decline among women aged 20 to 34 – reaching record lows among women aged 20 to 24.
Among teenagers, the rate hit a record low of 13.9 births per 1,000 women in the age group – after falling by eight per cent between 2007 and 2021.
The number of American women with at least one child has fallen to just 52.1 percent, while the number of men has fallen to 39.7 percent in 2019
More and more people are putting off starting a family until later in life, choosing instead to focus on their careers, travel and social lives in their younger years.
Experts blame falling birth rates on the 'Instagram' generation who prioritize careers, travel and their social lives over having babies.
Dr. Melissa Kearney, professor of economics at the University of Maryland, previously told DailyMail.com: 'There has been more emphasis on spending time building careers. Adults are changing their attitudes towards having children.
“They choose to spend money and time in different ways… (which) conflict with parenting.”
Others have also expressed concerns about the rising cost of living and student debt, which they say leaves many feeling financially unable to start a family until later in life.
This is evident from a study by the personal financing company Bankrate only 26 percent of childless adults say they feel financially secure.
A survey of 1,500 American adults by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for Newsweek A publication in April found that more than 50 percent of Gen Zers and millennials aged 18 to 34 said they would consider having children if the cost of living were lower.
The rise of technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and egg freezing have also played a role, as more women access fertility-preserving care to conceive later in life when they feel ready.