Australians are increasingly delaying parenthood, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Head of Demography, Beidar Cho, revealed that the median age of both mothers and fathers has continued to rise, reflecting a gradual but steady trend over the past decade.
“In 2024, the median age of mothers was 32.1 years, while fathers had a median age of 33.9 years,” Cho said.
Since 2014, the median age of mothers has risen by 1.2 years, and fathers by 0.9 years. In comparison, during the decade before 2014, the increase was just 0.3 years for mothers and 0.2 years for fathers.
Cho attributed the shift to broader social and economic changes, including longer periods spent in higher education and increased workforce participation among women.
“These figures reflect evolving patterns in how and when Australians choose to start families compared to previous generations,” Cho added.
The national fertility rate — the average number of births per woman aged 15 to 49 — was recorded at 1.481 in 2024.
A total of 292,318 births were registered across Australia last year, marking an increase of 5,320 births, or 1.9 percent, compared to the previous year.
Of these, 150,299 were male births and 142,019 were female births, resulting in a sex ratio of 105.8 male births for every 100 female births — a slight increase from 105.6 the previous year.
Additionally, the data showed that just over 60 percent of all births were to parents in a registered marriage.
