United States: 61% of women born in 1950 had a first child by 26, 49% of those born in 1980. By 40: 84% and 86%
They started later but caught up by 40. Women born in 1990 had 65% by 33; the 1980 generation had 75% by that age.
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Each line is women born in one year in United States: 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 1950.
- Born in 1950: had a first child by 26 % of women
61.4%
- Born in 1980: had a first child by 26 % of women
49.1%
- Born in 1950: had a first child by 40 % of women
84.3%
- Born in 1980: had a first child by 40 % of women
85.9%
- Born in 1990: had a first child by 33 % of women
65.0%
- Born in 1997: had a first child by 26 % of women
30.8%
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. Atlanta Fed working paper 2026-5 estimates the same from the NSFG survey with a model adjusting for the make-up of generations, so its numbers at 26 are below the registers for boomers and Gen Z.
A question for this picture
Will women born in the 1990s catch up, having started even later?