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Events like marriage and children are pushed further by more and more women who are perhaps more inclined towards building a career before reaching these milestones in life. Also with the continued increase in IVF treatments, women are delaying motherhood may be waiting for the right partner.

A new NHS report reveals that there is a 15.6 per cent rise in number of mothers in their 40s since 2006/7. This rise is the steepest when compared to any other age group, figures reveal.

An increase was apparently seen in all age groups except teenagers, where a fall in the numbers by a fifth over a span of five years has been noted, The Telegraph reported.

Overall, there seems to be a rise of 6.3 per cent in the total number of births since 2006/7 and has reached 669,000 in England. This figure however, does not include home births.

The rise in the number of women delivering in their forties also implies that more complicated deliveries are taking place.

The figures reveal, while there are more teen mothers in the North East and North West there are older mothers in London.

The Royal College of Midwives points out that delivery by older women have increased by more than three quarters in the last ten years.

"This data also shows that the age profile of pregnant women is getting older," Louise Silverton, the RCM's director for midwifery was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

"The baby boom, combined with the increasing age of mothers, means greater demands on maternity services, as pregnancies for older women can give rise to increased complications and a need for medical interventions, which demands more of midwives and others in the maternity team.

"As we are in the midst of a baby boom, these factors together with the increasing social complexity of care needs for all mothers, have a dramatic effect on the workload heaped on already overstretched midwives."