Why Australia’s birth rate is lower than ever

2024-05-07

Australia’s birth rate has been in a relatively steady decline since a peak in the early 1960s. It’s rebounded a small amount after hitting a record low in 2020, but it still sits well below the total fertility rate of 2.1 that’s needed for a population to sustain itself. Is that a bad thing for Australia? And how does the rest of the world compare? On today’s deep dive we speak with Professor Amanda Davies from the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia to try to answer those questions.

Australia’s birth rate has been in a relatively steady decline since a peak in the early 1960s.

It’s rebounded a small amount after hitting a record low in 2020, but it still sits well below the total fertility rate of 2.1 that’s needed for a population to sustain itself.

Is that a bad thing for Australia? And how does the rest of the world compare?

On today’s deep dive we speak with Professor Amanda Davies from the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia to try to answer those questions.

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