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Average age of women giving birth on the rise

The average age of women giving birth last year was 28.8 years old, indicating a gradual rise in age for giving birth in recent years, according to a report released last week by the Ministry of the Interior.

However, the average Southeast Asian spouse gave birth at 24.4 years of age last year, significantly below the national average, the report said. Spouses from China, meanwhile, averaged 28.1 years old, the report said.

Women of Taiwanese nationality gave birth at an average age of 29.3 years, it said.

The report said 206,465 babies were born last year, down 5.2 percent from 2004, and marking the lowest ever yearly total.

Officials said the drop in the number of births reflected a social trend in which women preferred to have fewer children than before.

Last year, 88.6 percent of women had only one or two children, up 8.1 percent from 10 years ago, the report said.

More than 50 percent of the women only had one child.

The number of women giving birth who had more than three children decreased dramatically, the report said, without indicating a percentage of decline.

In terms of education level, most women of Taiwanese nationality giving birth had graduated from college or above, and were aged from 30 to 34 years old. They were followed by 25 to 29-year-olds with the same level of education, and by 25 to 29-year-olds who had graduated from high school.

Officials said that education levels among Taiwanese spouses were higher than for foreign spouses.

Most spouses from China who had babies last year were junior high school graduates aged between 25 years old and 29 years old, followed by high school graduates of the same age group, and junior high school graduates aged from 20 years old to 24 years old.

Southeast Asian spouses were mainly junior high school graduates aged between 20 to 24 years old, followed by elementary school graduates of the same age, and lastly junior high school graduates aged from 25 to 29 years old.
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