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PREVIOUS CHILDREN OF THE MOTHER

Changes in ABS processing of data collected by state/territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages from 2007 have resulted in the availability of improved information on previous births to mothers.

Prior to 2007, ABS published information on previous births of the mother from the current relationship only, for all states and territories. From 2007, data on previous births for all relationships (both current and previous, if any) of the mother are collected for all states and territories, excluding Victoria and Queensland (see paragraphs 45 to 48 of the Explanatory Notes for more information). Data for 2009 are presented in table 2.7.

Of the states and territories that collect data on all children born to a mother, Western Australia recorded the highest proportion (46%) of first births to the mother (that is, no previous children), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (45%) and New South Wales and South Australia (both 43%).

For mothers who registered a birth in 2009, the Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest proportion (35%) of mothers who had had one child previously, while the Northern Territory recorded the highest proportion (29%) of mothers with two or more previous children.

2.7 Confinements, Previous children of the mother, State and territories - 2009
	Previous children of the mother(a)
	None	One	Two	Three	Four	Five or more	Not stated	Total confinements
State or territory of registration	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.
New South Wales	39 063	30 193	13 193	4 745	1 803	914	-	89 911
Victoria	32 043	24 064	9 973	3 107	973	660	-	70 820
Queensland	33 272	20 033	7 710	2 429	769	611	5	64 829
South Australia	8 397	6 504	2 917	923	400	309	np	19 452
Western Australia	14 098	9 750	4 119	1 449	518	443	-	30 377
Tasmania(b)	1 165	2 032	982	403	138	111	1 700	6 531
Northern Territory	1 487	1 154	565	274	126	109	-	3 715
Australian Capital Territory	2 524	1 974	746	237	76	48	-	5 605
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Includes all children born to a mother, for all states and territories excluding Victoria and Queensland. For Victoria and Queensland, includes previous children of the current relationship only. For further information see paragraph 46 of the Explanatory Notes.
(b) Due to the high proportion of confinements in Tasmania for which no information on previous children of the mother was available, data for Tasmania should be interpreted with caution.

2.8 Confinements, Previous children of the mother by age of mother, Australia(a) - 2009
	Previous children of the mother
	None	One	Two	Three	Four	Five or more	Total confinements(b)
Age of Mother	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
15-19 years(c)	85.8	12.8	1.1	0.2	0.1	-	100.0
20-24 years	59.2	29.3	8.8	2.0	0.5	0.1	100.0
25-29 years	50.3	31.3	12.1	4.3	1.5	0.6	100.0
30-34 years	38.2	36.9	16.0	5.7	2.0	1.2	100.0
35-39 years	28.1	37.4	21.1	7.8	3.3	2.4	100.0
40-44 years	26.7	33.0	20.2	9.3	5.8	5.0	100.0
45-49 years(d)	35.1	20.9	17.6	11.1	6.1	9.1	100.0
Total(e)	44.0	33.3	14.5	5.1	2.0	1.2	100.0
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Excludes Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. For further information see paragraph 46 of the Explanatory Notes.
(b) Includes births where previous children of the mother is not stated.
(c) Includes births to mothers aged less than 15 years.
(d) Includes births to mothers aged 50 years and older.
(e) Includes births to mothers where age is not stated.

2.9 Confinements, Previous children of the mother(a), Nuptiality, Australia(b) - 2009