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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 Registration of births is the responsibility of state and territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages and is based on data provided on an information form completed by the parent(s) of the child. This form is the basis of the data provided to the ABS, by the Registrars, for compilation into aggregate statistics in this publication. Most data items are collected in all states and territories and therefore statistics at the national level are available for most characteristics. Some states collect additional information.

2 In the main, statistics in this publication refer to births registered during the calendar year shown. There is usually an interval between the occurrence and registration of a birth, and as a result, some births occurring in one year are not registered until the following year or even later. This can be caused by either a delay by the parent(s) in submitting a completed form to the registry, or a delay by the registry in processing the birth.

3 Hospitals and birth clinics notify state and territory registries of recent births on a regular basis. For those births known to a registry that have not been registered within a prescribed time period, a reminder letter is sent to the parent(s) of the child to follow-up the birth registration.

Year of occurrence of births registered in 2006
	Year of occurrence
	2000 and earlier	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
State or territory of registration	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
New South Wales	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.7	10.1	88.6
Victoria	0.4	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	8.7	90.1
Queensland	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.8	14.8	81.3
South Australia	1.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4	8.0	90.0
Western Australia	1.0	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.5	8.7	88.9
Tasmania	2.3	-	-	-	-	2.5	95.1
Northern Territory	0.1	-	-	-	-	7.6	92.3
Australian Capital Territory	-	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	9.4	90.3
Australia(a)	0.6	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.5	10.1	87.9
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes Other Territories.

Tasmanian birth registrations

4 As required by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999, hospitals, doctors, midwives or other responsible persons provide the Tasmanian Registrar with a list of babies born containing basic information such as date of birth and sex of the baby. In the case of a live birth, the birth notification must be given within 21 days of the birth. These notifications have been provided to ABS since 2002 and are also used in producing quarterly population estimates.

5 Under the Act, the birth of a child must also be registered by lodging a birth registration statement with the Registrar within 60 days after the date of birth of the child. Once the parent(s) submit the birth registration statement, the record is updated and the Registrar provides ABS with a complete registration record. Where a match between a birth notification and birth registration statement is identified, the record is quality assured to ensure completeness of the record.

6 If the birth registration form is not received by the Tasmanian Registry, only the basic birth notification data is available. For these records, no information on age of mother is collected. As well, no information regarding the father is collected, therefore these births are coded as exnuptial paternity not acknowledged births. As a result, the number of exnuptial births in Tasmania may be overstated and the number of nuptial births understated for 2002 onwards. Measures based on age of mother/father may also be affected, however the extent is unable to be determined.

STATES AND TERRITORIES

7 As a result of an amendment made in 1992 to section 17(a) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901-1973 (Cwlth) the Indian Ocean territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands have been included as part of geographic Australia, hence another category of the state and territory classification has been created. This category is known as 'Other Territories' and includes Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Jervis Bay Territory.

8 Prior to 1993 births to mothers usually resident in Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands were included with Off-Shore Areas and Migratory in Western Australia, while births to mothers usually resident in Jervis Bay Territory were included with the Australian Capital Territory. In 2006 there were 26 births to mothers usually resident in Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

9 Statistics for states and territories have been compiled and presented in respect of the state or territory of usual residence of the mother, except where otherwise stated. In the following table data have been presented on a state or territory of registration basis. Births which took place outside Australia are excluded from the statistics. Births to mothers who were usual residents of Australia's Other Territories (Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Jervis Bay Territory) are registered in other Australian states.

Births, State or territory of usual residence of mother and state or territory of registration
	State or territory of registration
State or territory of usual residence	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
New South Wales	84 822	1 057	493	41	35	10	4	874	87 336
Victoria	95	65 025	39	48	13	7	5	4	65 236
Queensland	832	61	51 714	11	25	11	7	4	52 665
South Australia	19	33	11	18 142	13	3	38	3	18 260
Western Australia	43	16	15	12	27 658	4	27	-	27 776
Tasmania	19	27	7	6	-	6 415	-	-	6 475
Northern Territory	20	5	21	26	20	-	3 604	-	3 696
Australian Capital Territory	59	6	7	-	3	-	-	4 400	4 479
Australia(a)	85 917	66 230	52 307	18 288	27 786	6 450	3 686	5 285	265 949
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes Other Territories.

10 In 2006 there were 391 births to women who usually lived overseas. These have been included in this publication with state or territory of usual residence classified according to the state or territory in which the birth was registered.

Births, Babies born in Australia to non-resident mothers
State or territory of registration	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
New South Wales	312	331	338	398	380	281	308
Victoria	17	19	22	24	20	23	21
Queensland	108	108	116	92	61	38	41
South Australia	8	8	4	5	9	-	-
Western Australia	21	24	16	24	18	8	13
Tasmania	7	6	4	5	-	3	-
Northern Territory	6	8	6	5	3	5	4
Australian Capital Territory	4	7	5	4	-	7	3
Australia	483	511	511	557	491	364	391
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

SUB-STATE/TERRITORY FERTILITY RATES

11 Age-specific and total fertility rates for sub-state/territory regions (for example, Statistical Divisions) presented in table 6.6 and the accompanying spreadsheet tables 2 to 4 are calculated as average rates over three years ending in the reference year. Rates for states, territories and Australia in all other tables are based on single years of birth registration data.

INDIGENOUS BIRTHS

12 This publication includes data on Indigenous births for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. The data are regarded as being of sufficient quality to publish. Indigenous births for the Australian Capital Territory and Other Territories are included in the totals for Australia.

13 The populations used to calculate Indigenous fertility rates for 2006 are the 30 June 2006 experimental estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population based on the 2006 Census (see Appendix 6).

14 There are several data collection forms on which people are asked to state whether they are of Indigenous origin. Due to a number of factors, results collated from these forms are not always consistent. The way in which a person identifies, or is identified, as Indigenous on a specific form can change over time leading to unexpected changes in Indigenous statistics. Responses to Indigenous status questions can be influenced by a range of factors, including the perception of how information will be used, education programs about identifying as Indigenous, who completes the question on behalf of others, and emotional reaction to identifying as Indigenous.

15 The ABS has released experimental estimates and projections of the Indigenous population from 1991 to 2009 based on the results of the 2001 Census of Population and Housing. These estimates are recommended for analysis of Indigenous demographic indicators instead of previous published estimates.

16 Currently there are four estimates of annual numbers of Indigenous births. Each is based on a different collection, assumptions and methods.

• 2001 census-based population estimates, covering the period 1991 to 2001. After deriving experimental Indigenous resident population as at 30 June 2001 from the 2001 census, estimates were survived back one year at a time to 30 June 1991 using a reverse survival technique based on experimental Indigenous life tables (see Experimental Estimates and Projections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 1991 to 2009, cat. no. 3238.0 for further information).
• 2001 census-based population projections, covering the period 2002 to 2009. There are two series of projections; a low series and a high series. In the low series, the number of births each year is estimated using the propensity to identify found in the 2001 census. The high series uses an alternative assumption of an increasing propensity to identify based on the change between 1996 and 2001 in propensity to identify (see Experimental Estimates and Projections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 1991 to 2009, cat. no. 3238.0 for further information).
• Birth registrations: this publication is based on the registration of births with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in each state and territory.
• Perinatal Data Collection: these data are primarily about babies born in hospitals and their mothers (see Appendix 2 for more information).

18 On this basis, implied coverage of Indigenous births in Australia for 2002-2006 was 95%, and ranged from 83% in the Australian Capital Territory to 107% in the Northern Territory.

CONFIDENTIALITY

19 Where necessary, tables have had small values suppressed or randomised to protect confidentiality. As a result, sums of components may not add exactly to totals.

RELATED PRODUCTS

20 Other ABS products which may be of interest to users include:

Australian Demographic Statistics, (cat. no. 3101.0) - issued quarterly
Australian Demographic Trends, (cat. no. 3102.0)
Australian Historical Population Statistics, (cat. no. 3105.65.001)
Causes of Death, Australia, (cat. no. 3303.0) - issued annually
Deaths, Australia, (cat. no. 3302.0) - issued annually
Demographic Estimates and Projections: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Statistical Concepts Library, (cat. no. 3228.0)
Experimental Estimates and Projections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 1991 to 2009, (cat. no. 3238.0)
Population Projections, Australia, (cat. no. 3222.0)

22 ABS products and publications are available free of charge from the ABS website. Click on Statistics to gain access to the full range of ABS statistical and reference information. For details on products scheduled for release in the coming week, click on the Future Releases link on the ABS Home page.

23 As well as the statistics included in this and related publications, additional information is available from the ABS website by accessing Themes/Demography.