The number of women who gave birth in their 40s or older has almost doubled over the past decade, according to a government report on Monday.

Mothers in their 40s and 50s gave birth to over 10,600 babies last year, according to Statistics Korea. The figure is the largest-ever since 1981.

Even taking into account twins, at least more than 10,000 mothers older than 40 gave birth last year, said the government agency.

The number of these older mothers has been increasing for six consecutive years. It rose by 14.5 percent compared to last year (9,291) and double that from 2001 (5,445).

Babies born to fathers older than 40 reached 46,052 last year, which took up 9.77 percent of all fathers. It is double the figure in 2003 when it marked 23,602.

Experts say that contributing factors behind the increase included the rise in late marriages and double-income families, as well as the government’s policies to promote childbirth by giving benefits to families with three children.

Experts commented that working wives who received higher education especially tend to put off giving birth to a second or third child.

“Working women tend to have a big gap between the first and second child because having babies gives them childbearing burdens,” said Lee Sam-sik, head of the Aging and Low-fertility Research Division at Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)