Name: 生小孩是不是有年齡限制？- BBC世界頻道「全球故事」podcast (Are you ever too old to have a baby? - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service)
Uploaded: 2025-12-31T19:20:06.000Z
Duration: 17 min 54 s

Hello, I'm Katja Adler from the BBC World Service.

大家好，我是 BBC 世界服務的 Katja Adler。

現在進行式

Around the world, women are having fewer babies and mothers are getting older and older.

放眼全球，女性生育的寶寶越來越少，媽媽們也越來越高齡。

More women are having children in their 40s, their 50s and even in their 60s and 70s.

越來越多女性在 40 幾歲、50 幾歲，甚至 60、70 幾歲才生小孩。

Last week we saw successfully delivered this lady who is 70 years of age, of twins, boy and girl.

上週我們成功接生了一位 70 歲的媽媽，她生下了一對龍鳳胎。

Previously we had treated her with ivf, again, the symposis, three years ago, and

之前我們曾為她進行體外受精，三年前，同樣是綜合症，

她成功懷孕並生下了一個女嬰。

Today we're asking, why are women choosing to have babies later in life and what are the consequences for all of us?

今天我們要探討，為什麼女性選擇晚育，以及這對我們所有人有什麼影響？

With me Today is the BBC's population correspondent, Stephanie Hegarty.

今天和我一起的是 BBC 的人口事務記者 Stephanie Hegarty。

She heads up the Reproductive Science and society group at UCL's Institute for Women's Health.

她是倫敦大學學院婦女健康研究所生殖科學與社會小組的負責人。

So let's start, since we're talking about older mums, I think we're all older mums here.

所以我們來開始吧，既然我們在談論高齡產婦，我想我們這裡都是高齡產婦了。

I mean, I had my first child at 36 and my third at 42, and I.

我的意思是，我第一個孩子是 36 歲生的，第三個是 42 歲，而我。

I was half laughing and half horrified at being referred to already with my first child as a geriatric mum.

我一半在笑，一半覺得驚恐，因為我第一個孩子就被稱為高齡產婦了。

我去年 30 歲時生了我的第一個孩子。

And I was delighted that that never came up because I scoured the documents I was given by the NHS to see if I was being referred to as a geriatric mother.

我很高興這從來沒發生，因為我仔細看了英國國民保健署給我的文件，想看看自己有沒有被稱為高齡產婦。

then I'm in the field, I don't think they'd have dared.

然後我身處這個領域，我想他們不敢說。

I'd like to start off very much by what do we mean by an older mum?

我想先來談談，我們說的高齡產婦是什麼意思？

And again, you know, speaking from our own personal experience, not wanting to offend anybody, but

而且，你知道的，再次從我們個人的經驗來說，不想冒犯任何人，但是

We won't say old mum, I would certainly never put a number on it.

我們不會說高齡產婦，我絕對不會給它設定一個數字。

The term geriatric mother did used to be around and unfortunately for some people, still heard quite recently.

「高齡產婦」這個詞以前確實存在，而且很可惜，有些人最近還聽得到。

And that's because 10, 20, 30 years ago, women were having children at a much younger age.

這是因為在 10 年、 20 年、 30 年前，女性生孩子的年紀都還小得多。

Now it's become quite normal for women in their 30s, as we see with the world data.

現在，女性在 30 多歲生孩子已經很普遍了，就像我們從全球數據看到的。

There's many countries where women have their first birth over the age of 30, but

很多國家的女性都是在 30 歲以後才生第一胎，但是

Because, I mean, my mum had me when she was 30, that's in the early 1970s.

因為，我的意思是，我媽媽 30 歲生我，那是在 1970 年代初期。

那時候，這可是相當令人震驚的。

But no, Longer the case, Stephanie, if you take that global view, that's your job at the World Service.

但不是了，Stephanie，如果你從全球視角來看，這就是你在 BBC 世界服務的工作。

How common is it to be an older mum these days?

I mean, it's hard to tell exactly, say, going back three decades, six decades, but

我的意思是，很難確切知道，比如說，回溯到三十年前、六十年前，但是

we have really good data from the OECD countries, so from wealthy countries who generally good at data collection.

我們有來自經濟合作暨發展組織國家非常好的資料，也就是來自富裕國家，他們通常很擅長資料收集。

And 60 years ago, the average age was about 22.

而在 60 年前，平均年齡大約是 22 歲。

So every decade it's gone up globally by about a year.

所以每十年全球平均會增加一歲。

How common is it to hear of the much older mums?

聽到高齡產婦的案例有多普遍？

Frankly, I think Joyce might know more about this.

坦白說，我覺得 Joyce 可能比較清楚。

But what I think is found really interesting is, you know, we're talking about first.

但我覺得很有趣的是，你知道，我們談論的是初次生育。

28 is the average age for your first child, but

平均初次生育年齡是 28 歲，但是

people can go on, continue to have children much later.

And in India, for example, recently, the age of people stopped having children is going down.

而在印度，最近，大家停止生育的年齡正在下降。

I mean, surveys have found that they're choosing not to continue to have children late into life.

我的意思是，調查發現他們選擇不晚育。

So I don't think that this means that people aren't weren't having children in their 40s before.

所以我不認為這代表以前的人在 40 歲就不生小孩了。

I think my mom was 39 when she had me and 41 when she had my little brother.

我媽生我的時候大概 39 歲，生我弟的時候是 41 歲。

And Joyce, you might know more about how.

Has the upper barrier moved very recently, or is it just the lower barrier that we're talking about having moved?

這個上限是不是最近才移動，還是我們說的移動的只是下限？

So the, the ONS data for the UK shows now that for under 20s, we've got.

所以英國國家統計局的數據顯示，20 歲以下的女性，我們有。

These aren't off the top of my head, but under 20s, we.

這些不是我隨口說的，而是 20 歲以下的女性，我們。

And in the last set of data, we had 13,739 births.

在上一份數據裡，我們有 13,739 個新生兒。

But in the over 40s, 40 to 44, there were 28, over 28,000 births and there were around 2,000 over 40.

不過在 40 歲以上，40 到 44 歲，有超過 28,000 個新生兒，而 40 歲以上的則有大約 2,000 個。

Why are women choosing to have babies later?

As you said, Stephanie, it is getting later.

就像妳說的，Stephanie，確實是越來越晚了。

I think with anything to do with fertility and demographics, it's always this kind of confluence of economic, social and cultural.

我認為任何跟生育能力和人口統計有關的事，總是經濟、社會和文化因素的匯集。

And they all interplay so delicately, it's hard to pull them apart.

它們之間的相互作用非常微妙，很難將它們分開。

But I think certainly from surveys that I've looked at and people that I've spoken to, economics is huge.

但我認為，根據我研究過的問卷調查和我訪談過的人，經濟因素確實非常重要。

I think this is linked very closely to urbanization.

我認為這跟都市化有很緊密的關聯。

When people move to cities, life becomes more expensive.

當人們搬到城市，生活變得更貴。

But in Asia, education is expensive, so those things factor in.

但在亞洲，教育很貴，所以這些因素都會被考慮進去。

People want to be further in their careers, they want to earn more money.

人們想在事業上更進一步，他們想賺更多錢。

They have to in some cases, before they can afford to have a child.

在某些情況下，他們必須先賺到錢，才能負擔得起生小孩。

Well, there's a specific issue in China, isn't there?

嗯，中國有個特別的問題，不是嗎？

It used to have that one child policy that was scrapped in 2016.

以前他們實施了獨生子女政策，但在 2016 年被取消了。

But there are lots of people in China who are still choosing not to have more than one child.

但中國還是有很多人選擇不生超過一個小孩。

asked people and they said it's economics, they just can't afford a bigger.

訪問了許多人，他們都說是因為經濟考量，負擔不起。

I think one of the important things here and everything about fertility is to do with choice, or should be to do with choice.

我認為，關於生育能力，其中一個重要的點，是關於選擇，或者說應該是關於選擇。

A lot of people don't want to have children and now they don't feel the pressure to anymore.

很多人不想生小孩，而且現在他們也不再覺得有壓力了。

It is more acceptable not to have children.

不生小孩這件事，變得更被接受了。

And that's a good thing for people who never feel that instant.

對於從來沒有那種感覺的人來說，這是一件好事。

Africa, Stephanie, historically has high birth rates, but

非洲，史蒂芬妮，過去生育率很高，但是

if you look at it sort of continentally, birth rates per woman are falling there as well.

如果你從整個大陸來看，那裡的女性平均生育率也在下降。

So one of the most direct correlations to fertility is education of girls and women.

所以，與生育率最直接相關的因素之一，就是女孩和女性的教育程度。

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生小孩是不是有年齡限制？- BBC世界頻道「全球故事」podcast (Are you ever too old to have a baby? - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service)

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