Overview

A newborn baby's health can be a key determinant of their health and wellbeing throughout life. Factors such as physical health, social wellbeing and exposure to harmful behaviours can influence health outcomes for both mothers and babies.

More reports and statistics on mothers & babies can be found under Children & youth and Men & women.

Latest findings

Maternal death was more common in women of higher parity Pregnancy-related ultrasounds increased by more than 10% in quarter 3 of 2020, compared to quarter 3 of 2019 More than 90% of antenatal services claimed on the MBS were face-to-face consults Maternal death was more common in the highest and lowest maternal age groups Face-to-face antenatal services declined 15% in quarter 2 of 2020 compared with quarter 2 2019 Almost 1 in 10 antenatal services processed for March to September 2020 were delivered via telehealth Nationally, over 1.2 million MBS services for antenatal care were processed during the first three quarters of 2020 There were slightly fewer antenatal services processed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the same period in 2019 The most common cause of maternal death for 2018 was cardiovascular disease Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have a higher incidence of maternal death than non-Indigenous women The MMR for Australia in 2018 was the lowest in the past decade Around 120,000 fewer face-to-face antenatal services were processed in Q1–Q3 2020, compared to Q1–Q3 in 2019 A 10% decrease in face-to-face services was mostly offset by telehealth, contributing around 91,000 antenatal services

Latest reports

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Highlights

30.7 yearsis the average age of women who gave birth
6 per 100,000was the maternal mortality ratio in 2017
Almost 1 in 100pregnancies at or beyond 20 weeks gestation ends with the death of a baby
1 in 8mothers had a second birth vaginally after having their first birth by caesarean section
35% of mothers delivered by caesarean section in 2018 compared with 31% in 2008
44%44% of Indigenous mothers smoked during pregnancy in 2018, a decrease from 52% in 2009.
Congenital anomaliesare the most common cause of perinatal death
66%66% of Indigenous mothers attended an antenatal visit in the first trimester in 2018 compared with 50% in 2012.