The figures
According to Eurostat, the mean age of women at the birth of their first child in the European Union was 29.8 years in 2023, up from 28.8 in 2013, the first year for which an EU figure is available (Eurostat, Fertility statistics). The range is wide: from 26.9 years in Bulgaria to 31.8 in Italy.
A one-year increase over a decade may look small. Spread across a whole population, it changes how many women are trying to conceive in their late thirties, when fertility declines more quickly.
Why parenthood comes later
Researchers point to a combination of reasons:
- Longer education and later entry into stable employment.
- Economic security: many people want a secure job and income before having children.
- Housing: moving into a home large enough for a family often comes later than it did for previous generations. Studies in England find that rising house prices reduce births among renters, especially women in their twenties, which is consistent with postponement (see housing and fertility: what the data say).
- Relationships: people form stable partnerships later.
- Contraception, which makes the timing of births a choice.
What age does to fertility
For women, the number and quality of eggs decline with age, more steeply from the late thirties. The NHS advises women aged 36 and over to see a GP sooner if they have been trying to conceive without success (NHS, Infertility). Men's fertility declines more gradually, but older fathers pass on more new genetic mutations to their children on average (see our article on sperm counts in the reproductive health section).
Fertility treatment cannot fully compensate. In UK national data for 2023, the birth rate per fresh embryo transferred using a patient's own eggs was 35% for ages 18–34 and 5% for ages 43–44 (HFEA, Fertility treatment 2023). Patients starting IVF in the UK in 2023 were around 35 years old on average (see IVF success rates explained, in our fertility section).
Egg freezing: a response to postponement
The rapid growth of egg freezing reflects this tension. In the UK, egg freezing cycles rose from 2,567 in 2019 to 6,932 in 2023, according to the HFEA. Freezing eggs at a younger age preserves their quality, but it is expensive and offers no guarantee, and success depends above all on the age at which the eggs were frozen.
Postponement and the birth rate
Postponement lowers the annual birth rate while it is happening, because births that would have occurred are pushed into later years. If some of those births never happen, because the window closes or circumstances change, postponement becomes a lower number of children overall. That is one reason demographers watch the age at first birth as closely as the birth rate itself (see Europe's falling birth rates).
Is later parenthood a problem?
Not in itself. Older parents are often more financially secure and many studies find benefits for children. The concern is narrower: when postponement is not a free choice but a response to constraints, such as insecure work or unaffordable housing, people may end up with fewer children than they wanted. Surveys across Europe regularly find a gap between the number of children people say they want and the number they have.
This article explains population statistics and is not medical advice. Anyone concerned about their own fertility can talk to a GP, who can explain the options available at different ages.
The gap between wishes and reality
Survey research across Europe has long found that many people end up with fewer children than they say they want. The reasons given are often practical: not finding the right partner in time, insecure work, the cost of childcare, or a home that is too small. Some of these obstacles ease with age, but by the time they do, fertility may have declined. That is the main reason why the timing of parenthood is a public health issue as well as a personal one.
What can help
For individuals, the most useful steps are information and timing: knowing how fertility changes with age, seeking advice early if conception does not happen, and understanding what options such as egg freezing can and cannot offer. For societies, the evidence points to the conditions that allow people to have children when they want to: stable employment, affordable childcare and housing with room for a family. These themes run through our articles on Europe's falling birth rates and on housing and fertility.
Later first births, fewer later births
Postponing the first child also compresses the time available for a second or third. When first births come at an average age approaching 30, and later in many cities, people who want several children have fewer years in which to have them. Demographers see this as one of the channels through which postponement translates into lower completed family size.
Fathers are older too
Men, on average, become fathers at older ages than women become mothers, and the age of fathers has risen alongside that of mothers. Although male fertility declines more gradually, older paternal age is associated with a longer time to conception and with a higher number of new genetic mutations passed to children on average.
None of this means that everyone should have children earlier. It means that the choice works best when it is informed, and when the circumstances that push people to wait are not the deciding factor.