4914.0.55.001 - Newsletter: Age Matters, Dec 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/12/2003   
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DID YOU KNOW?

In 2002,

  • the median age of all women giving birth was 30.2 years, the highest on record.
  • there were 251,000 births, an increase of 4,600 births (1.9%) from 2001 and the highest since 1997.
  • the Australian total fertility rate was 1.75 babies per woman.
  • women aged 30-34 years experienced the highest age-specific fertility rate, with 111 babies per 1,000 women.
  • Australian total fertility rate remained lower than that of the United States of America (2.1 babies per woman) and New Zealand (2.0), but higher than that of the United Kingdom (1.6), Japan (1.3) and many European countries such as Germany (1.4), Greece (1.3) and Italy (1.2).
  • Victoria recorded the largest increase in births (up 2,900 over the number registered in 2001), followed by New South Wales (up 2,000). South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, while there were fewer births in Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

You can find this information in the publication Births, Australia (cat. no. 3301.0), which was released on 18 November 2003. Other information presented in this publication include detailed statistics on confinements and live births -- male and female births, births of Indigenous children, age and birthplace of parents, duration of marriage, previous issue of the current relationship, nuptial and exnuptial births, single and multiple births, and usual residence of mother (by state or territory).

This publication is available from any ABS office or on this website.