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The number of British women aged over 45 who are giving birth has more than doubled in the past decade - a greater increase than in any other age group.
New figures show that 1091 women aged 45 and over gave birth last year, compared with 540 in 1995. The statistics include those giving birth for the first time.
These findings from the Office for National Statistics are in stark contrast to the dip in the number of women having children in their 20s. Ten years ago, nearly 350,000 women between the ages of 20 and 29 gave birth. Last year that figure fell below 300,000.
The number of women over the age of 40 giving birth has nearly doubled from 11,319 10 years ago to 22,246 last year.
The list of high-profile women giving birth in their 40s includes Madonna, actress Emma Thompson and Cherie Blair, who was 45 when she had her fourth child.
The trend is also influenced by the fact that women are going through the menopause 18 months later than they did 50 years ago. The average age of menopause is now 50.5 years compared with 49.1 for women born in 1915.
In theory, any woman who is menstruating can conceive. But the chances of a woman getting pregnant in her 40s fall drastically, and the older she is the greater the risk of miscarriage, birth defects and high blood pressure as well as complications in childbirth.
- INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
