The ideal age or the "safest age" to give birth has been determined by scientists as ages between 23 and 32, according to research from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. This is because the risk of certain birth abnormalities is the lowest at that maternal age. Researchers looked at the connection between maternal age and non-genetic birth abnormalities, and their findings were published in the journal BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

Dr. Boglarka Petho, assistant professor at Semmelweis University and the first author of the study said, "First, we tried to determine the ten-year age period during which the fewest such congenital abnormalities occurred. We found that between 23 and 32 can be the ideal age for giving birth." In comparison to the optimal reproductive age (23–32), the researchers discovered that the risk of non-chromosomal anomalies increased by 20% generally for births under the age of 22 and by 15% above the age of 32.

Using information from the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities between 1980 and 2009, the researchers examined 31,128 pregnancies complicated by non-chromosomal developmental abnormalities. The risk of congenital diseases of the head, neck, ears, and eyes showed a doubled rise (by 100%) among the defects solely affecting the fetuses of older women, which was noticeably more pronounced in pregnancies over the age of 40.

Professor Nándor Ács, director of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at the University of Semmelweis said, "Non-genetic birth disorders can often develop from the mothers' long-term exposure to environmental effects". He also said that it is extremely important for proper research on this topic as the childbearing age in the developed world has been pushed back to an extreme extent.