The average ages at which Taiwanese women get married and have children for the first time have increased over the past decade, statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior show.
The median age for women entering into their first marriage last year increased to 30.03, up from 28.06 in 2007, the data showed.
The average age of women giving birth to their first child last year rose to 30.83, an increase of 0.09 years from 2016, but an increase of 2.29 years from 2007.
Women in the 30-to-34 age group accounted for 36.73 percent of first-time births last year, followed by women in the 25-to-29 age group at 28.54 percent and the 35-to-39 age group at 18.33 percent, the statistics showed.
The national median age at which women give birth was 31.97 last year, up 0.12 years from 2016 and an increase of 2.44 years over the past decade, the statistics showed.
Women giving birth at or over the age of 35 accounted for 29.04 percent of all births last year, with 37.02 percent of them giving birth to their first baby and 44.1 percent to their second, an increase of 3.97 and 0.9 percentage points, respectively, from 2007.
Mothers aged 35 or older who gave birth to their third child or more accounted for 18.89 percent of births, down by 4.87 percentage points over the past decade, the data showed.
The rate of first-time mothers younger than 30 has declined over the past decade, but the rate for those aged 35 and over had increased from 7.76 percent of the total in 2007 to 21.27 percent last year.
The statistics also show that aside from 2010, when the number of births hit a record low of 166,886, the average number of births over the past 10 years was more than 190,000, although last year, 194,616 births were recorded, which was 6.3 percent less than in 2016.
The number of births rose to 196,627 in 2011 and again to 229,481 in 2012, before falling back to 199,113 in 2013 and recovering to 210,383 in 2014, the statistics showed.
Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
The National Development Council expects Taiwan to become a super-aged society — defined as 20 percent of the population being 65 or older — by 2025.
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