Women called Jessica, Ashley or Brittany are on a list of names most likely to get pregnant next year
The average age of first-time mothers in the UK is 28, according to the ONS
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Your support makes all the difference.Women aged between 28 and 29 are most likely to become first-time mothers in 2016 - and that means that if your name is on the following list, it could be you.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average age of women who give birth for the first time is 28.5, as of 2014. Anyone born between 1988 and 1989 will be in that age range in 2016.
It can then be reasonably suggested, according to research carried out by The Independent, that women between the ages of 28 or 29 next year will be more likely to fall pregnant. The top 20 most popular female baby names in 1988 and 1989, according to international parenting website BabyCenter, are:
- Jessica
- Ashley
- Brittany
- Amanda
- Sarah
- Jennifer
- Stephanie
- Nicole
- Lauren
- Elizabeth
- Megan
- Tiffany
- Emily
- Amber
- Heather
- Melissa
- Danielle
- Rachel
- Kayla
- Michelle
In 2014, 52% of all live births were to mothers aged 30 and over, marking a running trend of women entering motherhood at later stages of their lives.
The ONS attributes this trend to a number of possible factors, including:
- Increased participation in higher education
- Increased female participation in the labour force
- The increasing importance of a career
- The rising opportunity costs of childbearing
- Labour market uncertainty
- Housing factors
- Instability of partnerships
Chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service Ann Furedi told the BBC: “UK mothers are now on average older than women elsewhere in the world when they have their first baby.”
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