Cunnamulla leads Covid baby boom, recording country’s highest fertility rate

Queensland’s annual birthrate has experienced a ‘Covid bump’, nine months after peak lockdowns and work-from-home orders. SEE HOW YOUR AREA RATES

Paroo Shire, which includes the south west Queensland town of Cunnamulla, had the nation's highest fertility rate in 2021.

An outback Queensland shire, which recorded the fastest population decline in the state in 2018, has bounced back to lead the country’s Covid baby boom.

Paroo Shire, which includes the south west Queensland town of Cunnamulla, had the nation's highest fertility rate in 2021.

It recorded 3.42 babies per woman, double the country’s “total fertility rate” of 1.7 revealed in the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The outback town’s birthrate was just shy of the national peak of 3.55 babies per woman at the height of the baby boom in 1961.

The figure, which takes into account the nine-month period after obligatory Covid lockdowns and work-from-home orders, followed the shire recording the fastest rate of population decline in the state in 2018.

Of the state’s 77 local government areas, 52 regions had birthrates above the national average, which was up from 1.59 in 2020 and 1.67 in 2019.

Cherbourg, Carpentaria, Mornington and Maranoa were leading the state’s baby bounce, all recording more than 2.3 births per woman.

In southeast Queensland, Logan, once referred to as Nappy Valley by demographer Bernard Salt, recorded one of the highest total fertility rates for 2021 with 2.13 births per woman.

Ipswich women were not far behind, recording a total fertility rate that year of 2.11.

Women in Scenic Rim had an average of 1.9 babies that year and those in Brisbane’s north, in Moreton Bay Regional Council, had a total fertility rate of 1.87 in 2021.

Redland women also recorded a total fertility rate above the national average in 2021 recording 1.85 births per woman.

Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Longreach, Whitsunday, Douglas, Noosa, and Kowanyama local government areas all recorded birthrates under the national average.

Across the country, South Australia’s Tumby Bay on the Eyre Peninsula had 3.41 babies per woman and Mount Remarkable in the Flinders Ranges had 3.26.

The rural New South Wales town of Gilgandra had 3.01 and Victoria’s highest birthrate was recorded in West Wimmera where there were 2.65 babies per woman.

Tasmania’s highest rate was in Circular Head where there were 2.37 births per woman and the Northern Territory’s was in Central Desert at 2.56.

University of Queensland population geographer Dr Elin Charles-Edwards said the uptick in births associated with Covid-19 followed the same trend after Brisbane’s rolling blackouts in the 1980s.

“Australia is in a long-term downwards trend for fertility, as are many developed countries in the world, but we have seen a bit of a baby bump associated with Covid,” she said.

“We expected fertility might drop as people delay having children but it seems the opposite has been true.

“It’s possibly due to the fact people were working from home and spending more time with their partners so they had more exposure to the risk of pregnancy.

“We saw that happen in Queensland in the ‘80s with rolling blackouts – there was a bit of a bump nine months later.”

Although it was positive to see an uptick in Australia’s 2021 birthrate data, Dr Charles-Edwards said national fertility was nowhere near where it needed to be.

Paroo Shire, which includes the south west Queensland town of Cunnamulla, had the nation's highest fertility rate in 2021.

“The magic number demographers use is replacement fertility, so 2.1 (babies per woman),” she said.

“That’s one for mum, one for dad and a bit extra to offset mortality risk.

“No developed country has been able to maintain that.

“It’s (caused by) a whole raft of things … We are at school and university for longer, it takes longer to save for a house, we partner later so we have children later and that obviously impacts our overall family size.”

Dr Charles-Edwards, who herself welcomed a second child in 2021, said there was no easy solution to population decline but there needed to be a focus on gender equity.

In SEQ Logan recorded one of the highest total fertility rates for 2021.

“It’s about things like allowing women to transition back to the workforce, good childcare subsidies, extended maternity leave, understanding how even the domestic sphere is in terms of distribution of work,” she said.

“Ultimately, if we don’t have replacement fertility, our population will disappear, but that is a couple of hundred years down the track.

“In the immediate term, (the consequence is) fewer workers in relation to dependants.”

For Australians who choose to grow their families over the coming years, the federal government’s new Budget, released on October 25, has proposed cheaper child care and increased paid parental leave.

A $4.6b package promises to cut childcare fees for 96 per cent of families by lifting the maximum child care subsidy rate by up to 90 per cent for families for their first child in care.

Meanwhile, $531.6m has been set aside for an extension of paid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks, increasing by a fortnight each year until the full 26 weeks is available from mid-2026.

The leave can be shared between both parents, and includes a “use it or lose it” component to encourage both parents to share child caring responsibilities.