What is the average age of mothers in the UK?

The average age of mothers in England and Wales was 31.1 years in 2025, up from 31.0 in 2024, and fathers averaged 34.0 years, according to the ONS Births in England and Wales: 2025 release. Both have risen since 1976. The figure is a standardised mean age, which removes the effect of changes in the number of women at each age.

Birth rates were highest among women aged 30 to 34, at 94.0 live births per 1,000 women. Mothers' ages at first birth and later births, and the gap between births, are in the ONS births by parents' characteristics datasets.

Be careful not to confuse the average age of all mothers with the average age at first birth, which is lower. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own figures through NRS and NISRA.

Official sources: ONS: Births in England and Wales (latest) · ONS: births by parents' characteristics

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: Live births in England and Wales.

When is the next figure out?

Annual. The ONS now publishes a first count in May (Births in England and Wales) and final rates in late summer or autumn (Birth summary tables). The 2025 final rates were published on 8 September 2026; the bulletin gives the next release as May 2027. Quarterly provisional counts are also published. The .xlsx file name includes the year, so the link changes each year

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Crude rate
  A rate calculated by dividing events by the whole population, with no adjustment for differences in age structure between places or over time.
• Calendar year
  January to December. Used for GDP annual totals, registered deaths and many international comparisons, unlike the April to March financial year.
• England and Wales
  A single legal jurisdiction, so crime, courts, prisons and death registration statistics are often published for England and Wales together.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Provisional figures
  Early estimates published before all data are in, so users get timely figures. They are expected to be updated when later data arrive.

Where the figures come from

• UK population and vital statistics (ONS, National Records of Scotland and NISRA)
  Where to find official UK figures on births, fertility, baby names, marriage, divorce, households, population estimates, projections and the census.

Related questions

• What is the UK fertility rate?
• How many babies are born in the UK each year?
• What is the marriage rate in the UK?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about population, births and families: all Population, births and families questions.