Number of Women Delaying Pregnancies into 40s on the Rise in the UK

The number of women delaying their pregnancies into their 40s is on the rise in UK after official figures released by the NHS revealed a 15 percent rise in such pregnancies between 2006 and 2011. According to the figures, there were 22,200 women between 40 and 49 years of age who gave birth to babies in 2006 compared to 25,600 women last year. Experts believe that the willingness of women to wait for the right person or give more importance to their career, along with the increased use of IVF treatments, could be one of the reasons behind the rise.

Overall the number of new born babies saw a rise of 6.3 percent during the period with births in all age groups seeing a rise except among teenagers that fell by nearly 20 percent. The Royal College of Midwives also faces new challenges as pregnancies in older women are usually complicated.

“The baby boom, combined with the increasing age of mothers, means greater demands on maternity services, as pregnancies for older women can give rise to increased complications and a need for medical interventions, which demands more of midwives and others in the maternity team”, RCM’s Louise Silverton said.

Source-Medindia