1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2002  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/01/2002   
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Contents >> Population >> Births

Since 1901 Australia has experienced two long periods of fertility decline; from 1907 to 1934, and from 1962 to the present. For the first decade of the 20th century the total fertility rate remained at around 3.7 to 4.0 babies per woman, then consistently declined over the next two and a half decades. By 1934, during the Great Depression, the total fertility rate had fallen to 2.1 babies per woman. It then increased during the second half of the 1930s, as women who had deferred childbearing in the Depression years began to have children. Fertility increased through World War II and the 1950s, and peaked in 1961 when the total fertility rate reached 3.5 babies per woman (see graph 5.21).

After the 1961 peak the total fertility rate fell rapidly to 2.9 babies per woman in 1966. This fall can be attributed to changing social attitudes, in particular a change in people's perception of desired family size, facilitated by the contraceptive pill becoming available.

During the 1970s the total fertility rate dropped again, falling to below replacement level in 1976, where it has remained since. This fall was more marked than the fall in the early 1960s and has been linked to the increasing participation of women in education and the labour force, changing attitudes to family size, lifestyle choices and the greater access to abortion.





According to the United Nations, the world average total fertility rate for 1995-2000 stands at 2.7 babies per woman, declining from the relatively constant five births per woman that existed until the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, total fertility rates for individual countries vary remarkably. There are many factors that can influence a country's fertility rate, such as differences in social and economic development and the prevalence of contraceptives. In general, developing countries have higher fertility rates while developed countries usually have lower rates.

Australia's total fertility rate for 1999, of 1.75 babies per woman, is one of the lowest in the world and well below the world's average. Compared to other developed countries, Australia's total fertility rate is among those of the middle ranked nations. According to the United Nations' estimated average total fertility rates for 1995-2000, Italy and Spain have the lowest total fertility rate (1.2) followed by Germany and Hong Kong (1.3). In contrast, the Middle Eastern and African countries have relatively highest fertility rates, with Yemen (7.6) and Somalia (7.3) the highest.

Over the past fifty years the total fertility rate has declined for most countries. Of the selected countries shown in graph 5.22, the total fertility rates of the Asian countries have shown the largest declines, Singapore declined at an annual average rate of 2.9% per annum, China by 2.7% and Viet Nam by 1.9% between 1950-1955 and 1995-2000.


Women continue to delay childbearing. The median age at childbearing has increased from 26.5 years in 1979 to 28.2 years in 1989, then to 29.7 years in 1999. In 1979 most births were to women aged 26 years, with 8.2% of all births occurring at this age. In 1999, most births were by women aged 28 and 29 years, each with 7.4% of all births. Over the past 20 years there has been a fall in the proportion of births to teenage mothers, from 8.2% in 1979 to 4.7% in 1999. Conversely, the proportion of births to women aged 40 years and above has increased, from 0.8% in 1979 to 2.5% in 1999.



Table 5.24 brings together summary measures of fertility for Census years between 1901 and 1986, and individual years between 1990 and 1999.

5.24 SELECTED SUMMARY MEASURES OF FERTILITY

Year ended 31 December
Registered births
no.
Crude birth
rate(a)
Total fertility
rate(b)
Ex-nuptial births(c)
%

1901
102,945
27.2
3.93(d)
n.a.
1911
122,193
27.2
3.69(d)
5.8
1921
136,198
25.0
3.12
4.7
1933
111,269
16.8
2.17
4.7
1947
182,384
24.1
3.08
4.0
1954
202,256
22.5
3.19
4.0
1961
239,986
22.8
3.55
5.1
1966
223,731
19.3
2.89
7.4
1971
276,361
21.6
2.95
9.3
1976
227,810
16.2
2.06
10.1
1981
235,842
15.8
1.94
13.2
1986
243,408
15.2
1.87
16.8
1990
262,648
15.4
1.91
21.9
1991
257,247
14.9
1.86
23.0
1992
264,151
15.1
1.89
24.0
1993
260,229
14.7
1.86
24.9
1994
258,051
14.5
1.85
25.6
1995
256,190
14.2
1.83
26.6
1996
253,834
13.9
1.80
27.4
1997
251,842
13.6
1.78
28.1
1998
249,616
13.3
1.76
28.7
1999
248,870
13.1
1.75
29.2

(a) Per 1,000 population.
(b) The number of children a woman would bear during her lifetime if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates at each age of her reproductive life.
(c) Proportion of total live births.
(d) Estimated total fertility rate.

Source: Australian Demographic Trends (3102.0); Births, Australia (3301.0); 'A century of population change in Australia', Professor Graeme Hugo in Year Book Australia 2001 (1301.0).



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