Name: 該生小孩了嗎？ (When Should You Have A Baby?)
Uploaded: 2025-07-17T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 4 min 43 s

Whether you're thinking of having kids today or becoming a parent in the future, many are aware that fertility declines as you age.

不論你現在或是未來考慮要生小孩，生育力都會隨著年齡增長而遞減 。

So when should you have kids, and is there anything you can do to beat your biological clock?

所以應該何時生小孩又是否有辦法扭轉生理上的劣勢呢？

情態副詞

A woman's first period is generally around age twelve or thirteen,

女性第一次的生理期大概會發生在十二、三歲時，

but most ovaries don't start releasing eggs until a few years after this.

但卵巢多半會在幾年後才開始釋放卵子。

In fact, a woman's peak fertility isn't actually until her early or mid twenties.

事實上，一位女性的生育力巔峰期大概落在二十歲出頭到二十幾歲中期。

Unlike males who are constantly producing new sperm, females have a finite number of eggs, but don't worry, by puberty, you have around 300,000.

不像男性隨時在製造新的精子，女性所擁有的卵子數量是有限的，但不用擔心，在青春期你大概會有三十萬顆卵子。

Way more than the 300 to 400 you will release in your lifetime.

數量遠遠超過一生會釋放的三百到四百顆卵子。

However, popular statistics show that after trying to conceive for one year, a thirty-year-old woman has a 25% chance of not conceiving a life birth.

然而人口數據顯示，在試圖懷孕的一年裡一名三十歲的女性有百分之二十五的機率，無法成功懷孕。

This increases to a 44% chance at 35, and 66% chance at 40 years old.

對三十五歲女性而言，機率增至 44%，到了四十歲則有 66% 的機率。

But most of this data comes from a 2004 journal.

但這些數據大多來自一篇 2004 年的期刊。

Looking at French birth records from 1670 to 1830, it's safe to say that a lot has changed.

內容探討法國 1670 年至 1830 年期間的出生率，不可否認的是，

For the lives and health of women since before the age of electricity, antibiotics, and reliable food supply.

相比那個時代沒有電力、抗生素和穩定的食物來源，現代女性的生活和健康都已經改善許多。

It also does an account for the amount of sex couples were having and the fact that sex drive tapers off as you age.

另外，伴侶之間性行為次數也該納入考量，隨著年齡增長性慾望也會減少。

Modern studies present a more optimistic look with the percentage of women unable to conceive within a year of unprotected intercourse at 13% to 14% for women aged 27 to 34,

現代研究結果顯示較為樂觀，二十七到三十四歲的女性在試圖懷孕的一年內，失敗率僅為 13% 至 14% ，

35 到 39 歲的女性懷孕失敗的幾率也才 18%。

Still showing declining fertility but much better odds than the historical data suggest.

隨著歲數的增長，生育力確實會降低，但已經比歷史數據顯示的好上許多。

Another study found that among 38 and 39 year olds who have been pregnant before,

另一研究發現，從前已懷過孕的 38、39 歲女子，

80% were able to become pregnant naturally within six months, and this points to another flaw in the studies.

其中有 80% 都能夠在半年內自然懷孕，這也導向了此研究中的另一個瑕疵。

Nearly half of all pregnancies in America are unintended.

在美國，將近一半的懷孕案例都是出自意外。

This means highly fertile women are more likely to become pregnant accidentally when they're younger,

這意味著那些高生育力的女性較可能在年輕時意外懷孕，

while those purposefully trying to have kids for the first time in their late thirties are already disproportionately less fertile regardless of age, creating an overestimate for the effect of biological aging.

而那些在三十歲過後才嘗試要次初懷孕的女性不論是幾歲，生育力都已大大降低生理年齡對生育的影響，因而顯得更加劇烈。

However, older eggs may not fertilize normally and there is an increase of chromosomal abnormalities with age.

然而，年齡較大的卵子可能無法正常受精，隨著年齡的增長，染色體異常也會增加。

A woman who is thirty has a 1 in 800 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome, but the probability goes up to 1 in 100 when she's forty.

三十歲的婦女生下唐氏症嬰兒的機率為八百分之一，但四十歲時機率上升到百分之一。

還好，那也只是 1% 的機率而已。

Many assume male fertility is limitless with some famous examples like Charlie Chaplin having kids up until his seventies.

許多人認為男性生育能力並無受限，畢竟有許多知名案例，例如查理卓別林到了高齡七十歲還仍然生得出孩子。

And while men do continually make new sperm, the more cell divides the higher probability of genetic mutations.

不過雖然男性隨時都在製造新的精子細胞分裂次數越多，基因突變的機率也越高。

By the time a man reaches 50, the cells that create his sperm have gone through over 800 rounds of division and replication.

當一名男性臨屆五十歲，製造精子的細胞早已經過了超過八百回的細胞分裂和複製。

As a result, older fathers carry increased risk of children with schizophrenia, autism, cancer a form of dwarfism, neurofibromatosis, and even skull and facial abnormalities.

因此高齡父親有較高機率生出患有先天疾病的嬰兒包含精神分裂症、自閉症、癌症、 侏儒症、神經纖維瘤病，甚至是顏面骨骼畸形

On top of this, even among young men in the Western world, sperm counts have dropped over 50% in the last 40 years.

除此之外，就連在過去四十年內，西方國家的年輕男性精子數量都已經減少，超過 50% 。

The impact and importance of this is yet to be determined though.

Of course, there's more to raising children than biology anecdotal accounts points to younger parents having more energy, but older parents having more maturity and financial stability.

不容置疑的是，有關生育孩童更多是在生物範疇之外的趣聞軼事表示年輕父母有更多的精力，而年長父母則更加成熟，財務情況也較為穩定。

Of course, more income does not mean better parents but research has shown that higher family income is linked to higher SAT scores.

有更多的收入不代表就是好父母，沒錯但是研究也指出高入學測驗成績往往來自有較高收入的家庭。

Not to mention in low to middle-income countries, the risk of death per birth for women between 15 to 19 years old is 28% higher than for women 20 to 24 years old.

遑論在低收入到中低收入國家，15 至 19 歲的婦女分娩死亡案件比 20 至 24 歲的婦女要高出 28%。

Studies have also found that in some sub-Saharan African countries, up to 25% of girls and young women drop out of school because of unintended pregnancies.

研究也發現在一些撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲國家中，高達四分之一的女孩和年輕女性因為意外懷孕而輟學。

Preserving young female eggs by cryogenically freezing them has also become more common but isn't a guarantee with increasing age still affecting pregnancy success rates,

低溫冷凍儲存年輕女性卵子的做法也越來越常見，但是並無法全然掛保證，因為年齡的遞增也會影響懷孕成功率，

and researchers finding that the freezing process degrades the quality of the eggs.

而且研究者也發現冷凍儲存會使卵子品質降低。

Additionally, this isn't a viable option for most women, as the cost of freezing alone is 10,000 dollars, and one round of in vitro fertilization can cost upwards of 12,000 dollars.

再者，這對大多數女性來說不會是個選項，因為光是冷凍卵子就要花費一萬美元，而一次的玻管受精過程就要花費高達一萬兩千美元。

Overall, yes, conceiving a baby becomes more difficult as both men and women age, but it is not the level of baby panic that is so often discussed in the media.

整體看來，當男女雙方年齡增長，生育會變得更加困難，但也沒有嚴重到媒體經常報導的高不孕程度。

Individual fertility is very variable based on genetics and lifestyle, and the best time to have kids is a very personal decision as is having kids at all.

基於基因和生活方式個體的生育力不一，決定何時適合生小孩是一件很私人的事，就如同養育孩子的方式也是。

Special thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting this episode.

特別感謝比爾及梅琳達蓋茲基金會對本集的贊助。

Even though the world is on an incredible path of progress, it's important to remember that progress isn't inevitable.

縱然世界正以驚人速度進步發展，必須記得這些進展並非理所當然。

That's why the Gates Foundation has created a Goalkeepers Report which will help raise awareness, accountability, and drive action for a better future.

這正是為何蓋茲基金會創立了守門員記錄喚起大眾的意識及責任感，並呼籲為了一個更好的將來行動。

Did you know that the number of mothers who die during childbirth has been halved in the past generation?

你知道在過去一個世代裡，因分娩致死的孕婦數量減少了一半嗎？

The Gates Foundation wants to ensure continued healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.

蓋茲基金會希望確保大眾的健康與永續健全發展。

Click the link in the description to read the report and see the progress being made.

按下底下描述中的鏈接，看看這項記錄。

And subscribe for more weekly science videos every Thursday!

也要記得訂閱收看更多每週四釋出的科學影片！