More Older Women Becoming First-Time Moms Amid U.S. Fertility Rate Decline

Womens first-time motherhood experiences in America are increasingly common among women above age 40. Research from the National Center for Health Statistics documented that the U.S. average number of children per woman reached 1.62 in 2023 thus extending a long-term downward trend. For the initial time in human history women aged 40 and above gave birth to more infants than teenage girls undergoing their first pregnancy.