3 - Community Services & Health Industry Skills Council

While all jurisdictions are working to improve the quality of Indigenous status data in birthregistrations, variability in earlier records makes historical comparisons difficult. Recent datasuggest a higher fertility rate among Indigenous women than the population as a whole (Figure1.8). The total fertility rate among Indigenous women in 2011 was 2.7 births per woman. Thisdifference, in part, contributes to the younger age structure of the Indigenous population.Between 1926 and 1986, fertility rates were highest among women aged 20 to 29 (Figure 1.9).However, from 1987 onwards, there was a shift: the fertility rates were highest among those aged25 to 34, with the rate for those aged 20–24 having dropped sharply from the early 1960s. Since2000, fertility has been highest among women aged 30–34 and, from 2004, rates among womenaged 35–39 have exceeded those of women aged 20–24.Over the 90 years shown in Figure 1.9, fertility rates for teenagers aged 15–19 peaked in 1971 (at56 births per 1,000 women) and then fell to a historical low in 2006 (15 births per 1,000 women).In 2011, the rate was 16 births per 1,000 teenagers aged 15–19.As a consequence of these trends in fertility rates, the median age of mothers has changed overtime—it fell from 28.8 years in 1921 to 25.4 in 1971 and then rose to 30.0 in 2001. Over the decadeto 2011, the median age remained around 30 years, standing at 30.6 in 2011 (ABS 2008b, 2012h).The median age of fathers (for which data are only available from 1975 onwards) has also shownan upwards trend since the 1970s. It was 28.6 years in 1975, rose to 33.1 in 2006 and has stabilisedaround that level in the following years, standing at 33.0 in 2011 (ABS 2012h).Births per 1,000 females25020015015–19 years20–24 years25–29 years30–34 years35–39 years40–44 years1005001921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 20111Notes1. Births to females aged under 15 are included in the 15–19 age-group; births to women aged 45 and over are not shown.2. Data for this figure are shown in Table A1.9.Sources: ABS 2008b, 2012h.Figure 1.9: Age-specific fertility rates, 1921 to 2011Australia’s welfare 2013 15