Falster K, et al. - According to their mother’s age at childbirth, the researchers intended to quantify a child’s risk of developmental vulnerability at age five. For children born to mothers aged 15 years to about 30 years, increasing maternal age was related to a lesser risk of developmental vulnerability. On the other hand, increasing maternal age beyond 35 years was generally correlated with increased vulnerability, broadly equivalent to the risk for children born to mothers in their early twenties, which was highly relevant in the international context of later childbearing. That socioeconomic disadvantage explained approximately half of the increased risk of developmental vulnerability related to younger motherhood recommends there might be scope to improve population-level child development through policies and programs that support disadvantaged mothers and children.