Childbearing age

As childbearing age , rarely gestational age , the time period is specified, in which the woman not only by their biological fertility is, but also socially and physically able to optimally carry a child and educate. The age at birth varies depending on the culture and culture area .

In western cultures, the classic childbearing age began at the end of school or teaching age, around 18, and ended at around 30 years of age. In the course of the longer training periods for women and the advances in gynecological medicine, the classical age of childbirth for western women has shifted more and more backwards, so that the time of the first birth has shifted towards the age between 25 and 35 years. For years, more than 20,000 births of women over 40 years of age have been registered in Germany every year. According to the official definition of the Federal Statistical Office , women are of childbearing potential up to the age of 49; de facto, conception can still occur in isolated cases after this period.

Web links

• Study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research on the age of childbearing and demographic effects in society. In: Demographic Research , 2004, Volume 1, No. 4 (PDF; 617 kB)