ABS data reveals bounce back from record low fertility rates

New ABS data has revealed Australia’s latest fertility rates, while also shedding light on what age most couples are choosing to have children.

New data shows Australia has bounced back from the record-low fertility rates recorded in 2020, while confirming significant growth in fertility rates among older women.

The latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday revealed 309,996 babies were born in 2021, an increase of more than five per cent from the previous year, with a fertility rate of 1.7 babies per woman improving on the 1.59 recorded in 2020.

Emily Walter, Demography Director at the ABS, said the 2021 fertility rate was lower than the recent peak of 2.02 recorded in 2008, but said the recent data had reinforced some broader trends.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the nation has bounced back from the record low fertility rates experienced in 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

“Over the last 30 years we’ve seen the fertility rate of women in older age groups rise; for example, the fertility rate of mothers aged 35-39 has doubled over that period, and for mothers aged 40-44 the rate has nearly tripled,” Ms Walter said.

“(W) hat this means is that the median age for mothers has risen as well,” she said.

“We’ve also seen a corresponding decrease in the fertility rate of teenage mothers; mothers aged 15-19 years.”

Ms Walter said the 2021 data revealed a new low of 7.1 babies per thousand women in this age group.

She said that since the turn of the century, women aged 30-34 had recorded the highest fertility rates.

ABS Demography Director Emily Walter said the median age for Australian mothers has risen over the past three decades. Picture: iStock

Officially, the median age for mothers in 2021 was 31.7 and 33.7 for fathers, while 61.7 children were born to parents in registered marriages.

The median age for parents was lower among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Australians, where the median age for mothers was around six years below the national average at 26.5 years of age and around four years younger for fathers at 29 years old.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women also recorded a higher fertility rate than the national average at 2.34 births per woman.

Data from the ABS shows a steady rise in the median age of Australian parents. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

On a state-by-state basis, the data showed Queensland, South Australia and NSW were the biggest contributors to the small spike in fertility rates, with Queensland recording the biggest increase on 2020 at eight per cent.

Victoria, however, recorded an increase on 2020 at nearly a quarter of Queensland’s rate, registering a growth in its total fertility rate of 2.4 per cent – the second lowest nationally.

Australians are having children at increasingly older ages, according to the most recent ABS data. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jenny Evans

In broader historical trends, the data shows national fertility rates trending down as the median age of parents increases.

ABS data shows the total fertility rate was 3.55 in 1961, while from 1966 to 1976 the average age of mothers was below 26 years of age.

Such patterns are reflected in the major English-speaking democracies, the US and the United Kingdom, where according to Statista, birthrates were 1.78 and 1.75 respectively in 2020.