3301.0 - Births, Australia, 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/10/2015   
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BIRTHS


There were 299,697 births registered in Australia in 2014. Just over half (51%) of all births registered in 2014 were male babies, resulting in a sex ratio at birth of 105.1 male births per 100 female births. The number of 2014 birth registrations was approximately 8,400 (2.7%) less than the number registered in 2013 (308,065). In New South Wales, approximately 9,400 less births were registered in 2014 than in 2013. This was the main reason for the decrease at the national level. See Explanatory Note 31 regarding the New South Wales decrease.

Graph Image for Births registered - 1901 to 2014

Source(s): Births, Australia



The median age of all mothers for births registered in 2014 was 30.9 years, while the median age of fathers was 33.0 years.

Graph Image for Median age of parents, Australia - 1934 to 2014

Footnote(s): (a) Where age is known. (b) Not available for 1974 and earlier years.

Source(s): Births, Australia



Of all births registered in 2014, 66% of births were to parents in a registered marriage. For more information see data cube Table 1: Births, Summary, States and territories - 2004 to 2014, from the Downloads tab.

The proportion of confinements resulting in a multiple birth has remained fairly consistent for the past decade, ranging from 1.7 to 1.5% of total confinements. In 2014, there were 4,381 confinements resulting in a multiple birth. This was 3.7% lower than the number recorded in 2013 (4,550 confinements). In 2014, 65 confinements were triplets or higher order births. For more information see data cube Table 10: Multiple births, States and territories - 2004 to 2014, from the Downloads tab.

Multiple births(a), States and territories - 2014(c)
Single
Twins
Triplets and higher order
Total multiple births
Total confinements
State of territory of usual residence
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
New South Wales
88 441
1 328
19
1 347
89 788
Victoria
72 040
1 076
18
1 094
73 134
Queensland
61 167
940
17
957
62 124
South Australia
19 815
279
4
283
20 098
Western Australia
34 401
495
6
501
34 902
Tasmania
5 797
69
-
69
5 866
Northern Territory
3 934
46
-
46
3 980
Australian Capital Territory
5 384
83
4
84
5 486
Australia(b)
291 012
4 316
65
4 381
295 393
- nil or rounded to zero
(a) A multiple birth is a confinement (pregnancy) which results in two or more children, at least one of which is live-born.
(b) Includes Other Territories
(c) A new confidentiality method has been applied. See CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE (go to the Summary tab and then IN THIS ISSUE).