BIRTHS


There were 311,104 births registered in Australia in 2016. Over three-quarters (77.4%) of these births were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Just over half (51.3%) of all births registered in 2016 were male babies, resulting in a sex ratio at birth of 105.3 male births per 100 female births. There were 5,727 more birth registrations in 2016 (a 1.9% increase) than in 2015 (305,377). In New South Wales, there were 3,996 less births registered in 2016 than 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 2016 was 31.2 years, while the median age of fathers was 33.3 years. For all median age data, see the dataset Confinements, by nuptiality, by state from the Downloads tab.




Of all births registered in 2016, 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 2016, there were 4,578 confinements resulting in a multiple birth and 81 of these were triplets or higher order births. There were 203 more multiple births in 2016 than in 2015. For more information see the dataset Confinements, by plurality, by state from the Downloads tab.

Multiple births, states and territories - 2016(a)(b)
		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		93 240	1 417	27	1 444	94 684
Victoria		80 494	1 196	23	1 219	81 713
Queensland		60 123	860	16	876	60 999
South Australia		19 153	309	5	314	19 467
Western Australia		34 456	481	8	489	34 945
Tasmania		5 773	99	3	100	5 873
Northern Territory		3 826	51	-	51	3 877
Australian Capital Territory		4 983	84	1	85	5 068
Australia(c)		302 088	4 497	81	4 578	306 666
- 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) Includes Other Territories. Births registered on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication for the first time. See Explanatory Note 3 for more information.