Page 3 | Average age 1st time mums

moonsovermiami · 2026-01-19T15:50:48+00:00

What's the average age of a first time mum in your area?

Disturbia81 · 19/01/2026 17:35

Firetreev · 19/01/2026 16:04

What a snooty and stereotyping response!

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It’s true though, and I’m saying that as someone who had them young in a poorer area. It’s always funny to me that well off people um and ahh over whether they can afford it while it’s the poorest who have the most.

Changedmynameagain20 · 19/01/2026 17:35

Firetreev · 19/01/2026 16:04

What a snooty and stereotyping response!

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Women who have gone to university statistically have children ten years later than those who don't.

GloriaMonday · 19/01/2026 17:32

TardisGirl81 · 19/01/2026 17:24

i agree, I certainly feel a bit judged! I was 24 when had my first. Judging on my experience of friends/baby groups/school this was about average. According to this thread I must be benefit claiming, uneducated and living in a deprived area! It was 20 years ago now so maybe things have changed.

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@TardisGirl81 , it's not you. It's the area. There are young mothers where I am. Teenagers probably. The demographic has different religions and cultures.

24 sounds young now but wouldn't have been in the 1980s.
24 sounds the right time to me, but I've seen women wait until their late 30s before TTC and it not happen.

TimeForATerf · 19/01/2026 17:25

I’m way past all that, but DS’s friends all have at least 1 and half have a second on the way. He’s 31 going on 32. His wife however is having their second and is 27. I had mine three decades ago at 28 and 31 so not a huge amount of difference.

Good but not posh area, mixture of jobs from skilled tradies to HCP and lower managers.

OneHundredDays · 19/01/2026 17:24

I live in a London suburb with a very mixed demographic. Among my friends (mostly university educated professionals) we were almost all 28-35.

But there's a massive range in the area. I'm standing in the y5 pick up queue with women from late-20's to mid-50's.

TardisGirl81 · 19/01/2026 17:24

SeanutBrittleOnToastedCoral · 19/01/2026 16:48

These threads never go well. It’s the most overdone topic ever, that usually ends with everyone feeling bad about themselves 🍿

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i agree, I certainly feel a bit judged! I was 24 when had my first. Judging on my experience of friends/baby groups/school this was about average. According to this thread I must be benefit claiming, uneducated and living in a deprived area! It was 20 years ago now so maybe things have changed.

Disturbia81 · 19/01/2026 17:18

Definitely early 20s.

Onemorechristmas · 19/01/2026 17:15

I’d say early 30s around me. Mostly professionals

nixon1976 · 19/01/2026 17:11

While we all know plenty of women who had babies aged 39 and over, it is not anywhere near average even for a very wealthy area.

My area I'd say 30-34

GloriaMonday · 19/01/2026 17:02

29.4 in my area. (Urban town with affluent villages in the area, there are probably teenagers and women in their 40s FTMs)

39 does not sound 'bang on average' for a first time mum anywhere. @LoungingontheSopha

fancytoes · 19/01/2026 17:00

32-38 in my middle-class, professional working-mother area - most having moved out from London for a leafy, naice, expensive houses town. A straw poll based on when everyone turned 40 with reception to year 2/3 age children.

Thechaseison71 · 19/01/2026 16:56

GloriaMonday · 19/01/2026 16:41

@HeyThereDelila , they should be available on the ONS site

Birth characteristics in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

Edited

Hmm I'm not sure how that works They seem to be doing it by local authority. Yet in ours there's a town with pretty deprived areas and an affluent middle class town. So probably anything from people having first child from 15 to 40 lol

Meadowfinch · 19/01/2026 16:56

Most mums at the reception class gate are in their 40s so I guess 34 to 38.

Not surprising given that a two bed house/flat is £350k+

1990thatsme · 19/01/2026 16:54

LoungingontheSopha · 19/01/2026 16:51

What do you mean by 'privileged', though?

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Private passive income. Very independent from men and well educated. Family wealth.

Dweetfidilove · 19/01/2026 16:54

According to Google, it's 31.2 - 32.5 in my area.

ThejoyofNC · 19/01/2026 16:53

LoungingontheSopha · 19/01/2026 15:58

It's going to depend entirely on the prosperity and social class structure of your area. I saw my midwife at two different GP clinics about a mile apart.

At one, as a first time mother-to-be aged 39, I was roughly a generation older than most of the other women in the waiting room, most of whose mothers were my age or slightly older -- poor area, lots of immigrants from cultures where women weren't typically much educated and married and had children young.

At the other, I was bang on average age. Much more prosperous area, the women in the waiting room were dressed for professional jobs and had presumably postponed having a child for the same reasons I had.

DS attended two primary schools. At one, a small village school, I was probably the oldest mother in his class of 27 and all but one other woman were SAHMs. At the other, there was a much wider age range, and everyone worked. Lots of parents at the local hospitals or university.

39 is not the average age. Don't care how posh you are.

ultracynic · 19/01/2026 16:52

Judging by the amount of 50th and 18th birthdays we have this year, I’d say 32.

LoungingontheSopha · 19/01/2026 16:51

1990thatsme · 19/01/2026 16:50

In my group of privileged SAHMs it’s about 27.

What do you mean by 'privileged', though?

1990thatsme · 19/01/2026 16:50

In my group of privileged SAHMs it’s about 27.

SeanutBrittleOnToastedCoral · 19/01/2026 16:48

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 19/01/2026 16:07

It's a factual response, lots of studies link age of first baby to geographic area, income demographic and level of education

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These threads never go well. It’s the most overdone topic ever, that usually ends with everyone feeling bad about themselves 🍿

ViciousCurrentBun · 19/01/2026 16:48

You could get very specific data from the ONS. But overall, higher educational level means older Mother. Where I live which is a relatively deprived area overall, ex mining at the Primary school I took my child to my nickname was Grandma, I had him when I was 34.

GloriaMonday · 19/01/2026 16:41

@HeyThereDelila , they should be available on the ONS site

Birth characteristics in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

HeyThereDelila · 19/01/2026 16:38

Nobody could possibly know unless you had the statistical data for every new mother in your area.

Anything else is just speculation and guess work.

Tryagain26 · 19/01/2026 16:36

Probably around 30

GloriaMonday · 19/01/2026 16:35

Firetreev · 19/01/2026 16:04

What a snooty and stereotyping response!

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It's not.