Australia’s total fertility rate was 1.481 babies per woman in 2024, the lowest since at least 1975 and down from 1.917 in 2011. It has fallen in nine of the thirteen years since. The fall is concentrated among women under 35: the birth rate among women aged 25 to 29 fell from 103.1 to 71.3 per 1,000, while among women aged 35 to 39 it fell only slightly, from 70.3 to 66.6 births per 1,000. Registered births, 292,318 in 2024, have fallen less, because there are more women of childbearing age.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Births, Australia, 2024.
What the fertility rate measures
The total fertility rate is the average number of babies a woman would have over her lifetime if she experienced the birth rates of each age group in a given year. It adjusts for the size and age of the population, which the raw count of births does not. A rate of about 2.1 is often called replacement level: the rate at which, without migration, each generation would roughly replace itself. The figures are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) annual births release, which counts births by the year they were registered, not the year they occurred; late registrations shift a small number of births between years.
The lowest rate in fifty years
The rate was 2.148 in 1975 and has been below 2.1 in every year since. It rose to 2.023 in 2008, its highest since 1976, and has fallen in most years since: to 1.917 in 2011, 1.593 in 2020, and, after a rise to 1.696 in 2021, to 1.499 in 2023 and 1.481 in 2024.
Total fertility rate, 1975 to 2024
Babies per woman. Dotted line: replacement level of 2.1. Source: ABS, Births, Australia, 2024.
Births have fallen less
Registered births were 301,617 in 2011 and 292,318 in 2024, 3.1% fewer, having peaked at 315,147 in 2018. The count has fallen less than the rate because there are more women of childbearing age: the number aged 20 to 44 grew by 21% between June 2011 and June 2024. With deaths rising, the gap between births and deaths, natural increase, has narrowed, as set out in Births, Deaths and Arrivals.
Registered births, 1975 to 2024
Thousands of births registered in each calendar year. Source: ABS, Births, Australia, 2024.
| Year | Registered births | Total fertility rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 301,617 | 1.917 |
| 2012 | 309,582 | 1.929 |
| 2013 | 308,065 | 1.881 |
| 2014 | 299,697 | 1.795 |
| 2015 | 305,377 | 1.796 |
| 2016 | 311,104 | 1.792 |
| 2017 | 309,142 | 1.743 |
| 2018 | 315,147 | 1.745 |
| 2019 | 305,832 | 1.666 |
| 2020 | 294,369 | 1.593 |
| 2021 | 309,996 | 1.696 |
| 2022 | 300,684 | 1.631 |
| 2023 | 286,998 | 1.499 |
| 2024 | 292,318 | 1.481 |
Total fertility rate: the average number of babies a woman would have over her lifetime at that year’s age-specific rates. Source: ABS, Births, Australia, 2024.
Fewer births at younger ages
Birth rates have fallen at every age under 35 since 2011: from 53.0 to 30.6 births per 1,000 women aged 20 to 24, from 103.1 to 71.3 at 25 to 29, and from 124.9 to 106.0 at 30 to 34. The rate at 35 to 39 fell only slightly, from 70.3 to 66.6, and at 40 to 44 it rose slightly. Women aged 30 to 34 had the highest birth rate of any age group in both 2011 and 2024; in 1975 it was women aged 25 to 29.
Births per 1,000 women by age, 2011 and 2024
Age-specific fertility rates. Source: ABS, Births, Australia, 2024.
By state and territory
Every state and territory had a lower rate in 2024 than in 2011, and every one was below 1.65. The Northern Territory had the highest rate, 1.629, and the ACT the lowest, 1.273. Tasmania’s fell furthest, from 2.154 to 1.485.
Total fertility rate by state and territory, 2024
Babies per woman, with the 2011 rate in brackets. Source: ABS, Births, Australia, 2024.
What this does not show
The fertility rate describes the timing and number of births, not their causes. Research has examined many possible influences, including the cost of housing, but this piece draws no link between fertility and housing costs or any other factor. The age structure the rate feeds into is shown in The Age Pyramid, 2011 to 2026, and the Demographic Analysis series carries the node readings.
Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.
