More women waiting until their 40s to start a family

Last year, 561 women in this age bracket gave birth to their first child, an increase of 11 percentage points on the 2007/8 figure of 504 and a rise of 150 percentage points since 1998.

In total, the number of women aged over 40 giving birth in Scotland last year also reached its highest ever level of 2,006, up from 1,942 in 2008 and 981 in 1998.

But the number of women aged between 35 and 39 giving birth to their first child dipped slightly over the year from 3,047 in 2008 to 2,990 last year.

Despite that, the number of first births in this age bracket is almost double the figure seen in 1998 when 1,598 women aged between 35 and 39 had their first child. The gradual ageing of Scottish first-time mothers is also demonstrated in the decline of the number of younger women giving birth to their first baby. Last year, 3,623 under-20s started a family, down 13 percentage points from the 1999 level of 4,168.

Paul Bradshaw, the research director of the Scottish Centre for Social Research, said the trends reflected changing career patterns for women.

He said: "It appears a lot more women are now stalling childbirth so they can further pursue a career. With the availability of fertility techniques these days, it is much easier for them to become pregnant should there be difficulties in later life. They seem to be putting off settling down till a bit later - it is not just career, it is also about relationships. It is taking women longer to achieve stable relationships."

Yesterday's figures revealed there were 58,243 babies born in Scotland last year, up from 57,338 in 2008.

The statistics also showed there was a wide gap in the age of starting a family between the richest and poorest areas of Scotland. The most common age for a first child in areas of low deprivation was 31 - 12 years later than the most common age in areas of high deprivation.