Australia’s birth rate has fallen to its lowest level on record, with new data showing a total fertility rate of 1.5 babies per woman.
There were 286,998 births in Australia in 2023, the Australian Bureau of Statistics shared on Wednesday.
In 2023, the total national fertility rate fell to 1.5 babies per woman, down from 1.63 babies in 2022. This represents a decline of 4.6 per cent.
Over the past 30 years, the fertility rate in Australia has slowly dropped from 1.86 in 1993.
Head of Demography at the ABS, Beidar Cho, said there has been a long-term decline in the number of younger women having children, with a shift towards women having children later in life.
“The long-term decline in fertility of younger mums as well as the continued increase in fertility of older mums reflects a shift towards later childbearing,” Cho said.
“Together, this has resulted in a rise in median age of mothers to 31.9 years, and a fall in Australia’s total fertility rate.”
The biggest declines have been seen in women under the age of 24. Women aged 30 to 34 years continue to have the highest fertility rate of any age group, followed by women aged 25 to 29.
Meanwhile, the fertility rate of women aged 40 to 44 years has almost doubled when compared to 30 years ago.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the total fertility rate was higher, at 2.17 births per woman.
According to the ABS, Western Australia had the highest birth rate in 2023 at 1.57 babies per woman, followed by New South Wales and the Northern Territory at 1.55.
The Australian Capital Territory had the lowest birth rate at 1.31 babies per woman.
Tasmania was the only jurisdiction that saw an increase in the birth rate from 2022, growing slightly from 1.49 to 1.51 babies per woman in 2023.
Why are women having fewer babies?
There are plenty of reasons Australians are having fewer babies.
Some of these include the increased cost of living including unafforable childcare costs, home ownership becoming out of reach for most young people and insecure and expensive renting conditions.
Growing fears about climate change impacts are also having an impact, as are the increasing education levels among women and better access to contraceptives. There are many other factors at play too.
Meanwhile, current trends indicate the average 25 year old woman today who goes on to have one child should expect to end up with about $2 million less in lifetime earnings than the average 25 year old man who does the same, according to the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce.