3301.0 - Births, Australia, 2017 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/12/2018   
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BIRTHS


There were 309,142 births registered in Australia in 2017. Over three-quarters (77.6%) of these births were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Just over half (51.5%) of all births registered in 2017 were boys, resulting in a sex ratio at birth of 106.2 male births per 100 female births. There were 1,962 less birth registrations in 2017 (a 0.63 % decrease) than in 2016 (311,104).

Graph Image for Births registered - 1901 to 2017


The median age of all mothers for births registered in 2017 was 31.3 years, while the median age of fathers was 33.3 years. For all median age data, see the dataset Confinements, by nuptiality, by state from the Downloads tab.

Graph Image for Median age of parents, Australia - 1937 to 2017

Footnote(s): (a) Not available for 1974 and earlier years.

Source(s): Births, Australia



Of all births registered in 2017, 65.2 % of births were to parents in a registered marriage. For more information see the dataset Births, summary, by state from the Downloads tab.

The proportion of confinements resulting in a multiple birth has remained fairly consistent for the past decade, ranging from 1.5 to 1.6% of total confinements. In 2017, there were 4,528 confinements resulting in a multiple birth and 60 of these were triplets or higher order births. There were 50 less multiple births in 2017 than in 2016. For more information see the dataset Confinements, by plurality, by state from the Downloads tab.

Multiple births, states and territories - 2017(a)(b)

Single
Twins
Triplets and higher order
Total multiple births
Total confinements
State of territory of usual residence
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.

New South Wales
93 795
1 388
23
1 411
95 206
Victoria
79 745
1 175
14
1 189
80 934
Queensland
59 402
890
11
901
60 303
South Australia
18 547
263
3
265
18 812
Western Australia
33 476
507
8
515
33 991
Tasmania
5 432
90
0
90
5 522
Northern Territory
3 774
54
0
54
3 828
Australian Capital Territory
6 010
100
1
102
61 12
Australia(c)
300 209
4 468
60
4 528
304 737

- nil or rounded to zero
(a) A multiple birth is a confinement (pregnancy) which results in two or more children, at least one of which is live-born.
(b) Where necessary, small values have been suppressed or randomised to protect confidentiality. As a result, sums of components may not add exactly to totals.
(c) Includes Other Territories. Births occurred on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication. See Explanatory Note 3 for more information.