Spain: by 40, 89% of women born in 1960 had a first child, 72% of those born in 1980
The gap was 32 points at 26 and still 17 points at 40: postponed motherhood was only partly made up.
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Each line is women born in one year in Spain: the share who had a first child by a given age. The further right a line rises, the later women become mothers; where it ends on the right is how many ever did.
Across: age; up: the share with a first child. A line stops at the age its generation had reached in the latest year of data: women born in 1997 are 26 so far, their line is short and not extended. The dashed line marks 26. Orange is 1980, bright blue 1960.
- Born in 1960: had a first child by 26 % of women
48.8%
- Born in 1980: had a first child by 26 % of women
16.7%
- Born in 1960: had a first child by 40 % of women
89.2%
- Born in 1980: had a first child by 40 % of women
72.3%
- Born in 1990: had a first child by 33 % of women
43.2%
- Born in 1997: had a first child by 26 % of women
12.9%
Human Fertility Database, cumulative first births per woman by age (ccfrVHbo) × 100 = share of a generation with a first child. Age is the age reached in the calendar year, about half a year older on average: “by 26” means by the end of the year she turned 26 (about 26.5 in exact age). Tables from the Our World in Data copy (2025-10-22 download).
These are birth registers, not a survey: every birth in the country is counted. Women moving in or out change the denominator, so a line can dip slightly. The card says nothing about why women become mothers later.
A question for this picture
How many women born in the 1980s will end up childless?