TAIPEI -- Giving birth to children at an older age, even at an advanced age, has become a trend for women now in Taiwan compared with 10 years ago, according to latest statistics.

About 30.1 percent of women who gave birth to children in 2018 were aged above 35 years, an increase of 16.7 percent from a decade ago, data from the island's statistics authorities showed.

New mothers aged between 25 and 29 accounted for 23.4 percent of the total in 2018, a drop of 13 percent over 2008. The average age of new mothers in 2018 was 32.

A total of 181,000 babies were born in Taiwan in 2018, 7.2 percent fewer than in the previous year, data showed.