Older women 'more likely than teens to have surprise pregnancies'

Older women in their 40s are more likely than their teenage counterparts to have an unplanned pregnancy, according to a new UK study.

A survey carried out by parenting website Netmums indicated that one in five women who had a child after the age of 40 said their pregnancy was a surprise.

However, of the 3,151 women to take part in the study, just eight per cent said they had an unplanned baby as a teenager or in their 20s.

It also appears that those over 40 are quicker to conceive then teenagers and younger women, as the Netmums survey found a quarter of 40+ women fell pregnant in the first month of trying to do so.

The study found that a further 19 per cent fell pregnant after just three months of trying, with over half conceiving after six months, figures that appear to go against traditional research that indicated fertility drops after the age of 35.