Home births 1930's

[Cell]

Could you point me to  any official government  figures that give the stats of the age of older  women who give birth  in the 1800's ? I don't think they have any

Any statistics they would have would have come from the census, and are therefore subject to the well-known tactics used to cover up illegitimacy, which include the "adoption" of the offspring of older daughters by their mothers.

The Government stats that I am refferring to for ages of older  women giving birth are taken from  NHS records, not  the censuses  - this is why I asked if you have figures of 1800's births. When you go into hospital and give birth your age is on your maternity  record, perhaps you may know this from  your own experiences.
There are no official stats for the early 1940's that I know of , let alone before that  ( There are only government stats for  late 40's  onwards, ie start of the NHS - which statistically,there were more  older  women who gave birth in the year of 1948 than there is today ) the Governement charts are  online if you care to look at them

You stated that you can see a trend of women giving birth later in life in more recent times -  please define times, and where you can see any official  stats  of women's ages who give birth in the 1800's , as there are no official stats for the 1800's and early 90's  that I know of. There are more older women (over 40 and 45 ) who have given birth in the past two decades is true, but if you were to  say there are more women today that give birth  in the late 1940's is untrue ( there are offical gov stats for that). -To say there are more older women giving birth  than in the 1800's , or early 1900's - it can not be proven, or "seen" that I  personally know of


Kind regards

.

[stanmapstone]

Live births: Age of mother in 5 year age-groups: within/outside marriage and sex, 1938-2004, a. all live births and female births only

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/xsdataset.asp?vlnk=4274&More=Y

Stan

[coombs]

I know a woman in my family tree who had her last child at 46. One gave birth at 51 but I think the baby was adopted by her grandparents as there was an 8 year gap between that birth and the previous child's birth.

[Nick29]

Live births: Age of mother in 5 year age-groups: within/outside marriage and sex, 1938-2004, a. all live births and female births only

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/xsdataset.asp?vlnk=4274&More=Y

Stan

Thanks Stan !   

And from that we can see the number of births for women over 45 (within marriage) .......

1946 - 1950 = 1997
1956 - 1960 = 1343
1976 - 1980 = 528
1986 - 1990 = 511
2000 - 2004 = 4103 (latest data available)

To my reckoning, the period 2000 - 2004 is an increase of 205% over 1946 - 1950 (the "baby boom years").

Any data for the 1800's would have come from the census, whereas the post-1938 records would have come from questionnaires, NHS records, health care records etc.



All government data in the 1800's would have come from the census.

[Redroger]

Why is this happening? Is it just later menopause, or are there other social factors?

[stanmapstone]

And from that we can see the number of births for women over 45 (within marriage) .......

1946 - 1950 = 1997
1956 - 1960 = 1343
1976 - 1980 = 528
1986 - 1990 = 511
2000 - 2004 = 4103 (latest data available)

The figures quoted for the periods 1946-1990 are Annual Averages the corresponding figure for 2000-2004 is 820 The actual total for 1946-1950 is 9,985. These are the totals Within/outside marriage.
A footnote to the table states 1 -   Annual averages are given for five-year periods.
Stan

[Pinkydinkydoo]

Thanks to everyone

[Nick29]

Why is this happening? Is it just later menopause, or are there other social factors?

Well, I think that a later menopause is definitely a factor, but I've been giving this some thought, and I think the major reason for an increase in the last 40 years has been that women have become financially much more independent.  100 years ago, both men and women remarried with a haste that seems almost irreverant, but the bottom line was that in those days widowed men needed someone to look after their children, and widowed women needed a home and food for their children.  In "modern times" women and men are much more able to be one-parent families.

[stanmapstone]

As I pointed out the figure 4,103 is not comparable to the previous ones, it should be 820. So to say To my reckoning, the period 2000 - 2004 is an increase of 205% over 1946 - 1950 (the "baby boom years"). is not correct it is a decrease of nearly 60%, from 9,985 to 4,103

Stan