1.6 Mean age at first birth

The mean age at first birth will be important for highlighting countries that go against expectations of a global trend of childbearing postponement over the last half century. In the West African analysis, the majority of countries actually saw their mean age at first birth becoming younger over the past five decades, which contrasts sharply with emerging evidence on increasing marriage postponement. It will be important to confirm whether there are other countries or regions where this is happening. This analysis is only possible for cohorts of women 30 years and older at the time of a DHS or MICS survey. The analysis will produce country-specific, regional and global trends.