STATES AND TERRITORIES


The Australian Capital Territory recorded the largest increase (1,055 or 20.5%) in the number of births registered in 2017. Some of the increases were due to a catch-up in processing lags. New South Wales recorded an increase (508 births or 0.5 %), while all other jurisdictions recorded a decrease in registered births.

Births registered, States and Territories - 2016 and 2017
	2016	2017	Change 2016-2017
	no.	no.	no.	%
New South Wales	96 083	96 591	508	0.5
Victoria	82 892	82 094	-798	-1.0
Queensland	61 841	61 158	-683	-1.1
South Australia	19 772	19 072	-700	-3.5
Western Australia	35 429	34 498	-931	-2.6
Tasmania	5 968	5 610	-358	-6.0
Northern Territory	3 927	3 882	-45	-1.1
Australian Capital Territory (a)	5 152	6 207	1055	20.5
Australia(b)	311 104	309 142	-1 962	-0.6
(a) Some of the increases were due to a catch-up in processing lags. See Explanatory Note 33 for more information. (b) Includes Other Territories. Births occurred on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication.

The Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest median ages of mothers and fathers (32.2 years and 34.1 years respectively), followed by Victoria (31.8 years for mothers and 33.8 years for fathers). The Northern Territory had the youngest mothers (29.8 years), followed by Tasmania (30.1 years). This order was reversed for the father's median age, with 32.1 years for Tasmania and 32.2 years for the Northern Territory. For all median age data, see the dataset Confinements, by nuptiality, by state from the Downloads tab.

In 2017, the Northern Territory recorded the highest TFR (1.91 babies per woman) closely followed by the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia (both 1.83 babies per woman), while South Australia recorded the lowest rate (1.68 babies per woman).




Fertility rates were highest for women aged 30-34 years in all states and territories in 2017. For more information see the dataset Fertility, by age, by state from the Downloads tab.

Total Fertility Rates, states and territories
	2007	2016	2017
New South Wales	1.999	1.743	1.708
Victoria	1.889	1.802	1.724
Queensland	2.129	1.824	1.772
South Australia	1.936	1.758	1.684
Western Australia	1.992	1.875	1.825
Tasmania	2.201	1.964	1.823
Northern Territory	2.273	1.938	1.909
Australian Capital Territory	1.749	1.551	1.833
Australia(a)	1.994	1.792	1.741
(a) Includes Other Territories. Births occurred on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication.

Net reproductive rates, by state or territory of registration(a)
Year of registration		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
2016		0.843	0.873	0.887	0.840	0.893	0.950	0.910	0.747	0.865
2017		0.825	0.829	0.845	0.806	0.880	0.888	0.917	0.879	0.837
(a) Daughters surviving to reproductive age, per woman.