Median age of parents increases in 2024

Media Release

Released

15/10/2025

Source

Births, Australia, 2024

Release date and time

15/10/2025 11:30am AEDT

The median age of both mothers and fathers rose again in 2024, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Beidar Cho, ABS head of demography, said: 'In 2024, the median age of mothers was 32.1 and fathers was 33.9, showing a slow but steady increase over the last decade.

'Since 2014, the median age of mothers increased 1.2 years, while fathers increased 0.9 years.

'But in the decade before 2014, the median age of mothers and fathers only rose by 0.3 years for mothers and 0.2 years for fathers.

'This shift toward older parenthood reflects broader social changes and economic shifts. This includes things like more time spent in education such as university and TAFE and higher workforce participation by women. It also shows evolving patterns in how and when people choose to start families compared to previous generations.'

Median age of parents, 1924 to 2024
Year	Median age of mother	Median age of father(a)
1924	28.9
1925	28.8
1926	28.7
1927	28.6
1928	28.4
1929	28.4
1930	28.3
1931	28.1
1932	28.0
1933	28.0
1934	27.9
1935	27.7
1936	27.7
1937	27.6
1938	27.6
1939	27.6
1940	27.6
1941	27.5
1942	27.7
1943	27.7
1944	28.2
1945	28.2
1946	27.9
1947	27.5
1948	27.5
1949	27.4
1950	27.4
1951	27.3
1952	27.3
1953	27.4
1954	27.4
1955	27.3
1956	27.3
1957	27.2
1958	27.2
1959	27.0
1960	26.8
1961	26.6
1962	26.5
1963	26.4
1964	26.3
1965	26.1
1966	25.9
1967	25.7
1968	25.6
1969	25.6
1970	25.6
1971	25.4
1972	25.5
1973	25.6
1974	25.7
1975	25.8	28.6
1976	25.9	28.7
1977	26.1	29.0
1978	26.3	29.2
1979	26.5	29.3
1980	26.6	29.4
1981	26.7	29.6
1982	26.8	29.7
1983	26.9	29.7
1984	27.1	29.9
1985	27.3	30.1
1986	27.5	30.2
1987	27.7	30.4
1988	27.9	30.6
1989	28.2	30.8
1990	28.3	30.9
1991	28.5	31.0
1992	28.7	31.2
1993	28.9	31.4
1994	29.0	31.6
1995	29.1	31.7
1996	29.2	31.9
1997	29.4	32.0
1998	29.5	32.0
1999	29.7	32.1
2000	29.8	32.2
2001	30.0	32.3
2002	30.2	32.5
2003	30.5	32.6
2004	30.6	32.8
2005	30.7	32.9
2006	30.8	33.0
2007	30.7	33.0
2008	30.7	33.1
2009	30.6	33.0
2010	30.6	33.1
2011	30.6	33.0
2012	30.7	33.0
2013	30.8	33.0
2014	30.9	33.0
2015	31.0	33.1
2016	31.2	33.3
2017	31.3	33.3
2018	31.4	33.5
2019	31.5	33.5
2020	31.6	33.6
2021	31.7	33.7
2022	31.9	33.7
2023	31.9	33.8
2024	32.1	33.9

Median age of parents, 1924 to 2024

["Year","Median age of mother","Median age of father(a)"]

[["1924","1925","1926","1927","1928","1929","1930","1931","1932","1933","1934","1935","1936","1937","1938","1939","1940","1941","1942","1943","1944","1945","1946","1947","1948","1949","1950","1951","1952","1953","1954","1955","1956","1957","1958","1959","1960","1961","1962","1963","1964","1965","1966","1967","1968","1969","1970","1971","1972","1973","1974","1975","1976","1977","1978","1979","1980","1981","1982","1983","1984","1985","1986","1987","1988","1989","1990","1991","1992","1993","1994","1995","1996","1997","1998","1999","2000","2001","2002","2003","2004","2005","2006","2007","2008","2009","2010","2011","2012","2013","2014","2015","2016","2017","2018","2019","2020","2021","2022","2023","2024"],[[28.85],[28.8],[28.71],[28.57],[28.42],[28.35],[28.26],[28.11],[28.04],[27.98],[27.87],[27.73],[27.67],[27.55],[27.57],[27.55],[27.62],[27.53],[27.65],[27.72],[28.18],[28.18],[27.9],[27.5],[27.46],[27.38],[27.38],[27.33],[27.33],[27.37],[27.38],[27.32],[27.29],[27.24],[27.19],[26.98],[26.81],[26.62],[26.53],[26.4],[26.32],[26.08],[25.89],[25.74],[25.62],[25.57],[25.55],[25.44],[25.49],[25.56],[25.66],[25.76],[25.91],[26.13],[26.28],[26.46],[26.56],[26.66],[26.8],[26.87],[27.12],[27.33],[27.49],[27.73],[27.94],[28.16],[28.33],[28.47],[28.68],[28.86],[28.98],[29.13],[29.23],[29.37],[29.49],[29.66],[29.84],[30],[30.24],[30.45],[30.6],[30.66],[30.75],[30.69],[30.67],[30.58],[30.64],[30.6],[30.7],[30.8],[30.9],[31],[31.2],[31.3],[31.4],[31.5],[31.6],[31.7],[31.9],[31.9],[32.1]],[[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[28.6],[28.7],[29],[29.2],[29.3],[29.4],[29.6],[29.7],[29.7],[29.9],[30.1],[30.2],[30.4],[30.6],[30.8],[30.9],[31],[31.2],[31.4],[31.6],[31.7],[31.9],[32],[32],[32.1],[32.2],[32.3],[32.5],[32.6],[32.8],[32.9],[33],[33],[33.1],[33],[33.1],[33],[33],[33],[33],[33.1],[33.3],[33.3],[33.5],[33.5],[33.6],[33.7],[33.7],[33.8],[33.9]]]

[]

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Not available for 1974 and earlier years.

Registered births in Australia rose to 292,318 in 2024, up 5,320 births or 1.9 per cent.

Media notes

Changes in Victorian birth registration processing times were partly responsible for the higher than usual births in 2024. Please be aware of this when reporting yearly comparisons for Victoria and Australia.
For more information on the difference between birth registrations and birth occurrences, visit our methodology: Births, Australia methodology, 2024
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Median age of parents increases in 2024

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