Australia’s fertility rate has plunged to a symbolic low of 1.5 births per woman – the lowest since records began in 1935 – as the number of babies born in 2023 plunged to the lowest in 17 years.
Last year, 286,998 babies were born nationwide, a fall of almost 14,000 from 2022 and the lowest since 2006.
But while most states and territories recorded fewer births, WA recorded the highest number of births per woman across the country at 1.57.
With 2.1 births per woman required to maintain a natural population balance through births alone, the increasing shortfall puts further pressure on migration for Australia’s population to grow.
The jump in births during 2021, when Covid lockdowns were at their peak, has also now been wiped out, with last year’s fall continuing a trend since 2008, the last year when the fertility rate was above 2.0.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also showed a growing trend of mother’s choosing to have children later in life, with a large decline in women aged 20-24 giving birth, while new mothers aged 40-44 almost doubled in the past three decades.
However women aged 30-34 continue to have the highest age-specific fertility rate, followed by women aged 25-29.
The latest fertility rate of 1.5 – down from 1.63 in 2022 – puts Australia on par with the likes of Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Croatia and Uruguay.
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