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FAMILY FORMATION

• In the past decade the median age at first marriage has steadily increased for both sexes reaching 30.0 years for males and 27.8 years for females in 2007.
• Since 2002, when the fertility of the Western Australian population reached an historic low of 1.7 babies per woman, the total fertility rate (TFR) has trended upwards reaching 2.0 babies per woman in 2007. In line with national trends, the recent increase would appear to be the result of higher fertility among women aged 30 years and over.
• In the 10 years to June 2007, the number of births to mothers aged 35 years and over rose by 72%. These births represented 14% of all births in Western Australia in 1997 but 21% of all births in 2007.

3 Family Formation
Indicator				1997	2004	2005	2006	2007
Registered marriages
	Number of marriages(a)		no.	10 456	10 601	11 124	11 602	12 290
	Crude marriage rate		rate	5.8	5.4	5.5	5.6	5.8
	Marriages where both partners married for first time		no.	6 700	7 002	7 321	7 780	8 286
	Median age at first marriage
		Males	years	28.1	29.6	29.9	29.9	30.0
		Females	years	26.1	27.6	27.8	27.7	27.8
	Median age at remarriage - divorced persons
		Males	years	42.5	45.5	45.7	45.6	46.1
		Females	years	39.2	41.8	42.4	42.3	42.8
Divorces(b)
	Number of divorces		no.	5 046	4 337	5 265	5 544	4 932
	Crude divorce rate(c)		rate	2.8	2.2	2.6	2.7	2.3
	Median duration between marriage and separation		years	8.3	9.1	9.5	9.6	9.9
	Divorces involving children aged under 18(d)		no.	2 717	2 159	2 680	2 786	2 410
	Children aged under 18 affected by divorce		no.	na	4 049	5 126	5 248	4 576
Fertility
	Number of births		no.	24 776	25 295	26 253	27 776	29 164
	Total fertility rate(e)		rate	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.9	2.0
	Births to mothers aged under 20		no.	1 348	1 371	1 446	1 392	1 485
	Births to mothers aged 35 and over		no.	3 582	4 674	5 174	5 763	6 145
	Births outside marriage		no.	7 642	9 427	9 653	10 393	11 133
	Births outside marriage acknowledged by father		no.	6 490	8 457	8 687	9 478	10 012
na not available
(a) The number of marriages registered in the calendar year per 1,000 of the estimated resident population at 30 June of that year.
(b) The lower number of divorces recorded in 2004 was due to processing and timing issues. In general, around 25% of divorces applied in a particular year are registered in the following year. In 2003 more divorces were registered in the year they occurred leading to a fall in the number of late registrations processed in 2004.
(c) The number of divorces granted in the calendar year per 1,000 of the estimated resident population at 30 June of that year.
(d) Refers to divorces of couples with unmarried children of the registered marriage aged under 18 at the time of application for divorce.
(e) The sum of age-specific fertility rates (live births at each age of mother per female population of that age). It represents the number of
Source: Marriages, Australia cat. no. 3306.0.55.001; Divorces, Australia cat. no. 3307.0.55.001; Births, Australia cat. no. 3301.0; ABS data available on request, Births, Australia; Demography, Western Australia cat. no. 3311.5.5.001