Births and Birth Rates by Race and Age: 1980 and 2006.
Over the course of the last 26 years, the mean age of a mother at first birth has risen 2.5 years, from 22.7 years to 25.2.
Three and a half times as many women have children in their late thirties as they did in 1980.
In 1980, women under the age of twenty had four times as many children as those between 35 and 39. Today, the older woman is more likely to have a child as the teenager.
| Age of mother: | 1980 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20 years old | 562 | 442 |
| 20 to 24 years old | 1,226 | 1,081 |
| 25 to 29 years old | 1,108 | 1,182 |
| 30 to 34 years old | 550 | 950 |
| 35 to 39 years old | 141 | 499 |
| Mean age of mother at first birth | 22.7 | 25.2 |
| Birth rate per 1,000 population | 15.9 | 14.2 |
| White | 15.1 | 13.4 |
| Black | 21.3 | 16.2 |
(Source)
Note: Excludes births to nonresidents of the United States.