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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Births and Fertility

• There were 21,928 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander births registered in Australia, an increase of 7.5% (or 1,528 babies) from 2017. This represents 7.0% of all births registered in Australia in 2018.
• New South Wales and Queensland recorded the highest number of births registered in Australia (7,339 and 6,405 respectively).
• Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest number of births in Australia (259).
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women give birth at young ages. Almost three-quarters (72.4%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander births registered in 2018 were to women under 30 years of age.
• This compares to 40.1% births of all Australian women of the same age.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander births, Year of Registration
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
State of Registration
New South Wales(a)	5 475	5 353	5 801	4 931	5 911	5 577	5 905	7 339
Victoria	1 202	1 438	1 502	1 462	1 370	1 640	1 837	1 864
Queensland(b)	5 280	5 648	5 205	5 394	5 248	5 456	6 615	6 405
South Australia	919	868	940	925	949	952	1 016	1 068
Western Australia	2 486	2 652	2 734	2 795	2 985	2 750	2 773	2 704
Tasmania	486	536	526	545	515	585	612	578
Northern Territory	1 588	1 588	1 445	1 486	1 365	1 373	1 402	1 711
Australian Capital Territory	185	212	215	241	194	227	240	259
Australia	17 621	18 295	18 368	17 779	18 537	18 560	20 400	21 928
(a) Some of the increases were due to a catch-up in registration processing lags. For more information, see explanatory note 21.
(b) Some of the increases in 2017 were due to a catch-up in registration processing lags. For more information, see explanatory note 28.

• The median age of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who registered a birth in 2018 was 26.0 years, approximately six years younger than the median age of all mothers (31.4 years).
• The median age of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men who registered a birth in 2018 was 28.2 years, approximately five years younger than the median age of all fathers (33.5 years).

• Teenage (15-19 years) fertility rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was five times the teenage fertility rate for all Australian women (48.1 and 9.5 births per 1,000 women respectively).
• Fertility rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 20-24 was three times the fertility rate for all Australian women of the same age (129.0 and 42.6 respectively).
• Conversely, fertility rate for all Australian women aged 40-44 years was one and a half times the fertility rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (16.0 and 11.1 respectively).