The average age of mothers giving birth in Australia is just
under 30 years of age, and the average age of first-time mothers is
around 28 years, according to the 16th annual report on pregnancy
and childbirth in Australia released today by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The report, Australia's mothers and babies 2006, shows
that the average age of mothers giving birth was 29.8 years in
2006, compared with 28.7 years in 1997.
Around 21% of mothers were aged 35 or over in 2006, up from 15%
in 1997.
'We're also seeing more women deferring starting a family, with
1 in 7 first births being to women aged 35 or older, compared with
1 in 12 in 1997', said Paula Laws of the AIHW's National Perinatal
Statistics Unit.
While the age of women giving birth has risen, so has the number
of births in Australia, with 277,436 women giving birth to 282,169
babies in 2006.
'There were 9,750 more births in 2006 than in 2005,' Ms Laws
said.
Over 10,000 births in 2006 were to mothers of Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander origin, making up 3.7% of all mothers.
Caesarean section births continued to rise, with 31% of mothers
giving birth by caesarean section in 2006 compared with 20% in
1997.
Around 84% of mothers giving birth in 2006 who had previously
had a caesarean section had a further caesarean section.
The median length of stay in hospital for childbirth was 3.0
days, and was longer for women who had a caesarean section (5.0
days).
Of babies born in 2006:
- 8% were preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation), compared with
7% in 1997
- 6% of live-born babies were of low birthweight (less than 2,500
grams)
- 15% of liveborn babies were admitted to a special care nursery
or neonatal intensive care unit
The perinatal death rate (deaths of babies before or up to 28
days after birth) was 10.3 per 1,000 births. The most common cause
of perinatal death was congenital abnormality.
Tuesday 9 December 2008
Further information: Paula Laws, tel. 02 9382
1014.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. (02) 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications area
for the availability of Australia's mothers and
babies 2006.