BIRTHS


There were 305,377 births registered in Australia in 2015. Over three-quarters (77.1%) of these births were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Just over half (51%) of all births registered in 2015 were male babies, resulting in a sex ratio at birth of 105.9 male births per 100 female births. There were 5,680 more birth registrations in 2015 (a 1.9% increase) than in 2014 (299,697). In New South Wales, there were 9,005 more births registered in 2015 than in 2014. This was the reason for the increase in the number of births registered at the national level in 2015. See Explanatory Notes 27 and 28 regarding the registration processing lags in New South Wales.



The median age of all mothers for births registered in 2015 was 31 years, while the median age of fathers was 33.1 years. For all median age data, see the dataset Confinements, by nuptiality, by state from the Downloads tab.



Of all births registered in 2015, 66% of births were to parents in a registered marriage. For more information see the dataset Births, summary, by state from the Downloads tab.

The proportion of confinements resulting in a multiple birth has remained fairly consistent for the past decade, ranging from 1.5 to 1.6% of total confinements. In 2015, there were 4,375 confinements resulting in a multiple birth and 84 of these were triplets or higher order births. There were 6 less multiple births in 2015 than in 2014. For more information see the dataset Confinements, by plurality, by state from the Downloads tab.

Multiple births(a),(b),(c), states and territories - 2015
		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		97 296	1 374	21	1 395	98 691
Victoria		71 497	1 031	24	1 055	72 552
Queensland		59 963	888	20	908	60 871
South Australia		18 972	304	7	311	19 283
Western Australia		34 196	464	10	474	34 670
Tasmania		5 532	82	-	82	5 614
Northern Territory		3 890	58	-	58	3 948
Australian Capital Territory		5 358	90	4	92	5 450
Australia(d)		296 741	4 291	84	4 375	301 116
- 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) Where necessary, small values have been suppressed or randomised to protect confidentiality. As a result, sums of components may not add exactly to totals.

(c) An issue with the identification of twins, predominantly in New South Wales, has been identified and addressed. This has resulted in a revised count for 2015.
(d) Includes Other Territories.