The average age of women giving birth in Canada is
continuing a long-established upward trend. It rose to 29.7
years in 2004 from 29.6 in 2003, reports Statistics Canada.
This change in the age distribution of mothers is
particularly striking compared with the previous generation. In
2004, women aged 24 and under made up close to 21 percent of
all mothers, compared to  41 percent in 1979.
The bulk of births now occur to women aged 25 to 34. Mothers
in this age group accounted for 62 percent of all births in
2004 compared with nearly 55 percent in 1979.
Births to older mothers (those aged 35 and older) were
almost four times as frequent as a generation earlier. These
mothers accounted for roughly 17 percent of births in 2004,
nearly four times the proportion of close to five percent a
quarter century earlier.
Migration may also be driving the trend to older motherhood.
The average age of mothers who gave birth in the province or
territory in which they themselves were born was 29 years in
2004, compared with 30 for Canadian migrants, and 31.1 for
international immigrants. Women may delay marriage and
childbirth while settling in a new area and re-establishing
social networks, suggests Statistics Canada's analysts.
