Want three children? Start your family at 23

If a woman aiming for two children waits until she is 38, her chance of success is lower than 50 per cent.. Photo / Thinkstock

Woman who want at least three children should start a family by the age of 23, according to scientists.

Those who want two children should start by 27 to ensure a 90 per cent success rate.
Anyone content with one can leave it to 32.

The fertility chart was created by researchers at the University of Rotterdam who looked at the data on the natural fertility of 58,000 women over the past three centuries.

Dr Dik Habbema, who led the project, said: "I hope the model will play a part in making decisions easier."

The average age for starting a family in England has steadily risen over the past four decades as increasing numbers of women delay motherhood while they follow their careers.
It is now 30, up from 27 in 2004. In 1970 it was just 24.

If a woman aiming for two children waits until she is 38, her chance of success is lower than 50 per cent.

Allan Pacey, a fertility professor at the University of Sheffield, said the chart would help women plan their lives.

"Everyone thinks you can wait - this shows you can't," he said.

"The table ought to be copied and put up on the clinic wall."

- Daily Mail