Birthweight result (PI02)
This indicator is the proportion of First Nations babies born within the previous 12 months who attended the organisation more than once and whose birthweight result was low, normal or high.
There have been changes to the specification of this indicator over time. For more information see Interpreting nKPI data.
Why birthweight result is important
Measuring birthweight allows infants to be given early and suitable intervention, which can mitigate adverse outcomes (AIHW and NIAA 2024). Low birthweight babies (less than 2,500 grams), for example, are more likely to experience illness or die in infancy, have poorer development of their mental functioning abilities, and have an increased risk of chronic conditions in adulthood.
The targets in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap include several aimed at children, including a target to increase the proportion of First Nations babies with a healthy birthweight to 91% by 2031.
Data from the National Perinatal Data Collection show that most First Nations babies are born with a normal birthweight, but the low birthweight rate among First Nations babies remains relatively high compared with non-Indigenous babies.
At June 2025, 85% of (or around 4,800) First Nations babies born within the previous year had a healthy (normal) birthweight (Figure 17).
The data visualisation below (Figure 17) shows, for each collection period from June 2017 to June 2025, the proportion of First Nations babies born within the previous 12 months by birthweight result. Select by either:
- organisation type
- remoteness
- state/territory
to see data for that breakdown.
Data tables supporting this visualisation are available at Data.
Figure 17: Birthweight result by collection period
Between December 2022 and June 2024, the proportion of First Nations babies born within the previous 12 months who had a normal birthweight showed little or no change (around 86% in all periods).
Notes
- In June 2021, specifications changed for this indicator. For more information see Interpreting nKPI data.
- Breaks are included to separate out the periods most affected by voluntary reporting and the peak of COVID-19 and associated emergency response measures. This break, however, is not a clean break as each indicator in the nKPI collection has an assigned time frame (a reference period) as part of its specification. For this indicator, which has a reference period of 12 months, data in the December 2022 collection period (covering 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022) still overlaps with the peak of COVID-19 and associated emergency response measures. For more information see Comparisons over time.
- The linear trend lines provide a general impression of the direction of the data. Caution should be taken interpreting trends with less than 5 data points. See also Figure 13 for trends for selected data.
- For more information, including on interpreting changes over time, see Technical notes.
Reference
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and National Indigenous Australians Agency (2024) Measure 1.01 Birthweight, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 17 October 2025.