I'm a 29-year-old mother with a 6-year-old child. Last week, my child started elementary school, and I attended my first parent-teacher meeting. I was a bit surprised to see that many of the other mothers were older than I expected. When I got home, I decided to look up the current average age of first-time mothers. I found a graph showing the average age of first-time mothers over the past 50 years. It showed that in 1975, the average age was 25.7 years, in 2000 it was 28 years, and in 2022 it was 31 years. I gave birth at 23, so I was quite surprised to see that the average age is now 31. This made me think that as the age of first-time mothers increases, the likelihood of having a second child decreases, leading to lower birth rates and, consequently, an aging population.
IseHitomi, & IseHitomi. (2024, July 6). 令和4年(2022年)平均初産年齢と過去50年の推移～世界と比べて日本は?～ | 卵子凍結保管 グレイスバンク. 卵子凍結保管サービス Grace Bank（グレイスバンク） |. https://gracebank.jp/egg-freezing-primipara/
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/kakutei22/index.html
My cousin also gave a birth when she was 35, and most of my friends gave births after 4o years old, so I wasn’t surprised by the number. But after knowing in 1975, the average age of giving birth was 25.7 years and thinking in 50 years, the average went to 31 years which is almost 6 years gap, I now gradually understand why Japanese aging population problem is so serious. Considering my career, I also hope giving birth after 40 years old like my friends. But if Japanese society’s standard changes I might have different opinions in the future.
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