The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In 1800, Australian women of childbearing age would go on to have approximately 6.5 children on average over the course of their lifetime, and this number decreased gradually to just below five in the early 1850s. Over the next ten years the fertility rate increased to 5.7 children per woman, as an influx of migrants arrived on the continent during the Australian gold rushes, however the fertility rate dropped from 1860 until 1935, when it was then just 2.2 children per woman, although there was a small baby boom after the First World War. Australia's fertility rate did rise during the global 'Baby Boom' after the Second World War, reaching 3.4 in the 1960s, but it then dropped to two children per woman in 1980, and it has plateaued just under this number until today.
Total fertility rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020*
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UN DESA, & Gapminder. (June 17, 2019). Total fertility rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020* [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved October 14, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033428/fertility-rate-australia-1800-2020/
UN DESA, und Gapminder. "Total fertility rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020*." Chart. June 17, 2019. Statista. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033428/fertility-rate-australia-1800-2020/
UN DESA, Gapminder. (2019). Total fertility rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020*. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: October 14, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033428/fertility-rate-australia-1800-2020/
UN DESA, and Gapminder. "Total Fertility Rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020*." Statista, Statista Inc., 17 Jun 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033428/fertility-rate-australia-1800-2020/
UN DESA & Gapminder, Total fertility rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020* Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033428/fertility-rate-australia-1800-2020/ (last visited October 14, 2024)
Total fertility rate in Australia from 1800 to 2020* [Graph], UN DESA, & Gapminder, June 17, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033428/fertility-rate-australia-1800-2020/