More than half of Spanish women have their first child after the age of 30
The birth It has become one of the most worrisome issues in recent years within many countries of the world. Not only because the number of children born almost does not guarantee the generational change, but because the decision to postpone the arrival of a child causes many women to light up after 30 years. Something that increases the possibility of problems before, during and after pregnancy.
A situation caused by job instability, the difficulty of finding a first job and the effects of the economic crisis. An obvious example of this context is Spain, where a large number of women have their first child when they are over 30 years old. This is demonstrated by the latest data from Eurostat where it is indicated that this country has the lowest fertility rate in the entire continent.
Away from the European average
In Spain, more than half of women decide to have their first child after 30 years of age. In fact, 60% of the gilts have between 30 and 39 years. This country also stands out for having the highest percentage of mothers who bring their first child to the world after 40 years, a 6.6% in total.
The decision to postpone motherhood also makes Spain have the lowest fertility rate in Europe. In particular, the women of this country, on average have 1.34 children while the average of the continent is 1.6%. A figure that is further away from the nations that lead this list: France (1.92), Switzerland (1.85) and Ireland (1.81), far exceeding this weighting.
In this way, the 50,3% of the children born in 2016 were the first child of the woman, a figure that also exceeds the European Union average which remains at 46.2%. In 38.2% it was the second child that arrived at this home, in 8.7% the third and only in 2.8% was the fourth or later. A trend that shows the decline of the large family model in recent times.
Pregnancy from 30
Delaying the decision to be a mother has consequences for women. These are some of the results of facing the challenge of motherhood from the age of 30:
- Less fertility. From the age of 30, a woman's fertility is reduced, ovulation is less frequent, and problems such as endometriosis appear. All this translates into a greater difficulty to get pregnant.
- Problems for the baby. After 30 years, the possibility of the child being born with certain problems increases. An example is the increase of possibilities of Down Syndrome.
- Greater possibility of cesarean section. After thirty years, the possibility of cesarean section increases. A delivery that although it is safe to have the presence of doctors, it is still a surgical intervention that carries risks.
- Less possibility of generational change. Families that postpone the decision to become parents for the first time do so even more with the second children, which already implies a reduction of options for there to be a generational change in the home.
Damián Montero
