In the Western world, more and more women are delaying motherhood.Sometimes the biological clock seems to work against this desire to enjoy life and grow professionally. And it is that, forming a family does not only have to do with biological suitability : social and economic factors also play an important role. Likewise, modern contraception, especially the expansion of the contraceptive pill since the 1960s, substantially improved pregnancy planning, allows postponing childbearing to a later age
. In this sense, making a general computation, the different branches of science have concluded that the perfect age for a childbirthson ranges between 19 and 40 years , a range of the widest. But, can a more concrete range be determined
According to a study, scientists suggest that the ideal is to wait until 30. These results are revealed by analyzing the correlation between the average age of the gilts, the average age of the women in the childbirth and the percentage of adolescent mothers with life expectancy in various countries of the European Union over the course of nine years. The verdict shows that older primiparas were the longest .
However, as we have already mentioned, there are other factors to take into account.Among them we will analyze thebiological, social and gender issues.The equation has different results for each of them.
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
From a biological perspective, according to all the research, the best age to have the lowest risk of complications in pregnancy and in the postpartum period is between 25 and29.9years of age . It is during this period that female fertility peaks at its highest levels.
However, there is another study that suggested that women who decided to have their first child after 33 lived longer than those who did so at 30. Although experts do not recommend having children at 40, research has shown that women who do so are four times more likely to live to 100 than others.
However, science warns that from the age of 35 fertility decreases and possible problems of sterility or to become pregnant. This is because women are born with a certain number of primordial follicles that are stored in the ovary. This production is maintained until the age of 34 and then begins to decrease until reaching an insufficiency and menopause occurs.
In fact, after the age of 40 , female fertility has been reduced by half and thatwe only keep 3% of our ovarian reserve.In Spain , this figure has tripled since 2000, and in addition 33% of births occur in women over 35. SOCIO
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ECONOMIC FACTORSSocioeconomic differences generate health inequality that not only increases general morbidity and mortality, rather, it translates into a low use of preventive and planning services, as well as a higher percentage of harmful habits for health in the most socioeconomically depressed groups.
Likewise, it has been proven in several studies that when couples delay the formation of a family, for each year that they postpone it, they have an average increasein income.
of 10% , and that is usually an important factor to take into account. The economic deterioration of young adults is a problem in itself for total independence, so taking the step of forming a family is far from short-term goals.
On the other hand, there are certain advantages in leaving it for later: there are studies that found that the children of older women obtain better educational levels and greater cognitive development. But the most relevant is usually linked to the socioeconomic positionof the parents: those who become parents later tend to have greater stability in their jobs, in their homes, in their partners, and in general they have different educational styles with their children due to their experience.
In this sense, the threshold between 30 and 32 is set again as the ideal age.
GENDER ISSUE
There is a contribution of the decrease in the gender gapand female empowerment that makes women much less dependent on men. These issues are more pertinent to tertiary-educated women who have more to lose in terms of their career at work, income, and social status by becoming mothers, and therefore postpone parenting more than their less-educated counterparts
. , the wage gap between men and women and the impact on mothers’ careers due to the lack of flexibility to share childcare leave are important factors that have a great impact on the decision whether to have a child or no.
And as long as these problems are not resolved in an egalitarian manner, the issue of birth rates will continue to affect the economy of the countries and the situation of women. In this sense, an ideal age is not found until the rest of the factors work, although, for the reasons that we have already mentioned, it usually occurs with the stability that could be around 35.
