Fertility rates: Parramatta is in the middle of a baby boom
A baby is born to a Parramatta family every two hours, but a new report shows Aussie mums are having babies later and fewer of them.
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A baby is born to a Parramatta family every two hours, but a new report shows Aussie mums are having babies later and fewer of them.
Analysis of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics birth registry data shows 3650 newborns were welcomed into Parramatta in 2017 - 50 more than 2016.
The area’s fertility rate - a statistical measure of how many babies a woman of childbearing age could expect to have in her lifetime - sits at 1.66, down from the previous year.
Across New South Wales, there were 96,591 babies born, an increase of 508 since 2016.
These pitter patters of little feet were part of a national tally of 309,142 babies registered as being born in 2017, bringing the fertility rate to 1.74 babies per woman, the lowest since 2001.
Women are also having babies later in life, with the figures showing that the number of teenage mums nearly halved during the past 30 years.
ABS Director of Demography, Anthony Grubb, said in that time, the fertility rate of women aged 35-39 has more than doubled in 2017, and for women aged 40-44 it had tripled.
He said women aged 30-34 continued to have the highest fertility, followed by women ages 25-29.
“The long-term decline in fertility of younger mums as well as the continued increase in fertility of older mums reflects a shift towards late childbearing,” he said. “Together, this has resulted in a rise in median age of mothers and a fall in Australia’s total fertility rate.”
“The Northern Territory recorded the highest TFR (1.91 babies per woman) closely followed by the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia (both 1.83 babies per woman), while South Australia recorded the lowest rate (1.68 babies per woman).
“In 2017, the total fertility rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers was 2.33 babies per woman. There were 20,400 births registered (7 per cent of all births) where at least one parent was an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian.”
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