Across the 1 342 NUTS 3 regions* of the European Union (EU), the mean age of women at childbirth (for all births, not only the first one) in 2016 was lowest in the Bulgarian region of ‘Sliven’ (25.1 years) and highest in the Greek region of ‘Voreios Tomeas Athinon’ (33.8 years).
On average across the entire EU, the mean age of women at childbirth was 30.6 years.
Youngest women at childbirth in Bulgaria and Romania
The mean age of women at childbirth was under 27 in 22 EU regions. All of these regions were located in two Member States: Bulgaria (15 of its 18 NUTS 3 regions fell into this category) and Romania (7 regions). The Bulgarian regions of ‘Sliven’ (25.1 years), ‘Yambol’ (25.4 years), ‘Pazardzhik’ (25.8 years), ‘Montana’ (25.9 years) and ‘Vidin’ (26.2 years) were those where women were youngest when their children were born. The regions of ‘Giurgiu’ (26.2 years) and ‘Călăraşi’ (26.3 years) recorded the lowest mean age of women at childbirth for Romania.
Five of the 12 regions with oldest mean age at childbirth in London
Alongside ‘Voreios Tomeas Athinon’ (33.8 years) in Greece, 11 EU regions at NUTS 3 level also recorded a mean age of women at childbirth of 33 years or over. Five of those regions were in the United Kingdom, specifically in London: ‘Wandsworth’ (33.7 years), ‘Camden & City of London’ (33.7 years), ‘Kensington and Chelsea & Hammersmith and Fulham’ (33.6 years), ‘Westminster’ (33.3 years) as well as ‘Lambeth’ (33.0 years). The two regions of ‘Medio Campidano’ and ‘Nuoro’ in Italy, along with ‘Paris’ in France, ‘Heidelberg, Stadtkreis’ in Germany, ‘Bizkaia' in Spain and ‘Byen København’ in Denmark completed the list of EU regions where women were on average 33 years old or more when their children were born.
The source dataset can be found here.
* Based on the 2013 version of the classification
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