More women over the age of 40 are having babies than ever before, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS’ Births, Australia, 2011 publication shows that in 2011 a record 12,800 babies were born to women over 40, an 80 per cent increase in ten years.
Director of ABS Demography Bjorn Jarvis said the fertility rate for mothers in the 40–44 year old age group has increased to 15.1 babies per 1000 women in 2011 from 9.2 in 2001.
"We have also seen the total number of births in Australia pass the 300,000 mark in one year for the first time," Mr Jarvis said.
The average number of babies for each woman of reproductive age (also known as the fertility rate) was 1.88 in 2011 which is a decline from a recent peak of 1.96 in 2008.
“Tasmania had the highest fertility rate at 2.17 babies per woman, while Victoria had the lowest at 1.75.”
Mr Jarvis said the fertility rate for women of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background was 2.74.
The age of parents has increased a little in ten years from a median of 30 to 30.6 years for women and 32.3 to 33 for men. The ‘oldest’ mums are from the ACT (31.5 years) while the oldest dads are from Victoria and the ACT (33.6 years). The youngest parents are from the Northern Territory - 28.5 for mums and 31.5 for dads.
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