Women are delaying motherhood through their 20s % of women ages40 to 44 who hadgiven birth by age By their mid 30s, both groups of women were about equally 100% Women who were 40-44 in 1994 were 14 points more likely to be
Women are becoming mothers later in life. The median age at which women become mothers in the U.S. is 26, up from 23 in 1994. While this change has been driven in part by declines in births to teens, delays in motherhood have continued among women in their 20s. In 1994, more than half (53%) of women in their early 40s had become mothers by age 24; by 2014, this share had fallen to 39%.
Women are delaying motherhood through their 20s  | % of women ages40 to 44 who hadgiven birth by age  | By their mid 30s, both groups  | of women were about equally  | 100%  | Women who were 40-44 in 1994  | likely to be mothers  | were 14 points more likely to be  | moms by age 24 than likely those in 2014.  | 85  | 80  | 83  | 72  | 22% of women ages 40-44  | in 1994 had become  | 53  | 61  | moms as teens vs. 13% who  | were that age in 2014  | 50  | 39  | 22%  | 13  | 24  | 29  | AGE 12  | 19  | Note: The 1994 time pointis based on combined data from 1992 and 1995. (Age at firstl birth is notavailable in the 1994 data The 2014  | time pointis based on combined data from 2012 2014 and 2016.  | Source: Waiting Pew Research Centeranalysis of 1992 1995, Likely 2012 2014 and 2016 Current Population Survey June Suppl ements.  | "Thev re Waiting Longer, butU.S Women Today More Likely to Have Children Than a Decade Ago  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 