Sohn Kitae
a School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University, Perth, Australia and Department of Economics, Konkuk University , Seoul , South Korea.
Hum Fertil (Camb). 2017 Sep;20(3):212-216. doi: 10.1080/14647273.2017.1279352. Epub 2017 Jan 22.
While scholars and policymakers have investigated the causes and consequences of low fertility, they have neglected a related issue: advanced parental age. This is an important issue because advanced parental age adversely affects babies in the short and long run. South Korea recently topped the list of low-fertility countries, and so this study examined the trends in parental age in this country. We analysed all births between 1997 and 2014, the census for 2000 and 2010, and aggregate marriage data to report the trends in age at first marriage, interval from marriage to first birth, and parental age at first birth and at all births. At every stage, age increased rapidly for both parents. As a result, of babies born to fathers aged 20-54, 20.2% were born to fathers aged 35-54 in 2000 with the proportion increasing to 38.7% in 2010 - almost double in a single decade. The corresponding figures for mothers increased from 6.7% to 17.2% - more than double. Potential parents and policymakers can use this information to time births more appropriately, thereby reducing risks to babies and mothers.
虽然学者和政策制定者已经研究了低生育率的原因和后果，但他们忽略了一个相关问题：父母高龄化。这是一个重要问题，因为父母高龄化无论在短期还是长期都会对婴儿产生不利影响。韩国最近在低生育率国家中位居榜首，因此本研究考察了该国父母年龄的趋势。我们分析了1997年至2014年期间的所有出生记录、2000年和2010年的人口普查数据以及总体婚姻数据，以报告初婚年龄、从结婚到首次生育的间隔时间、首次生育时的父母年龄以及所有生育时的父母年龄的趋势。在每个阶段，父母双方的年龄都迅速上升。结果，在20至54岁父亲所生的婴儿中，2000年有20.2%是由35至54岁的父亲所生，这一比例在2010年升至38.7%——在短短十年内几乎翻了一番。母亲的相应比例从6.7%增至17.2%——增加了一倍多。准父母和政策制定者可以利用这些信息更恰当地安排生育时间，从而降低对婴儿和母亲的风险。
