Women are having fewer children and later in life

Some are having children almost two years beyond the point they anticipated while an intended family size of at least two children has not, on average, proved a reality.
The effective baby gap was last night attributed to increasing numbers of women taking on careers, households not being able to afford large families or just not being able to find the right partner.

The average childbearing age in Britain now stands at 29.3 years, the highest level since records began in 1938, a study for the Office for National Statistics said.

Between 1991 and 2007, the research asked women how many children they intended to have and found they consistently gave a higher rate than the actual average fertility rate throughout that period.

The intended family size ranged between 2.0 and 2.16 children per woman when the actual fertility rate was around 0.3-0.4 children per woman lower until 2001, after which the gap narrowed slightly.

Women also expected, on average, to have their first child at a younger age than actually proved to be the case.

Those aged 22-25 in 1991/94 expected to give birth within 3.9 years – the actual average wait was 4.5 years.

For women aged 30-33, the anticipated two-year wait for a first child became 3.5 years on average.

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How your personality effects when you choose to have children

A woman's personality can affect when she chooses to have her first child, according to a new study. The research found that traits such as 'conscientiousness' and 'openness' were associated with delaying motherhood, while more neurotic or extrovert women were more likely to have children young.
The study of over 16,000 mothers, by the Institute of Social and Economic Research, looked at the relationship between fertility, education and personality traits.

Researchers cross-referenced five different personality types - conscientious, neurotic, open, agreeable and extrovert - with the age at which the women had their first child.

Lara Tavares, the author of the study, said that the average educated woman had their first child two years later than her average less-educated counterpart - but analysis of personality traits could explain this timing gap more clearly.

'Personality traits influence both education and fertility decisions,' she said. 'More 'open-minded' people might be less vulnerable to the social pressure for having children.

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