Smoking during pregnancy (PI11)
This indicator is the proportion of female First Nations regular clients who gave birth within the previous 12 months and whose smoking status recorded during pregnancy was:
- current smoker
- ex-smoker
- never smoked.
It is collected for age groups:
- less than 20
- 20–34
- 35 and over.
There have been changes to the specification of this indicator over time. For more information see Interpreting nKPI data.
Indicators related to smoking for ages 11 and over are also collected, with data presented under the Preventative health domain.
Why not smoking during pregnancy is important
Tobacco smoking is the smoking of tobacco products, including packet cigarettes, roll-your-own cigarettes, cigars or pipes. Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is the most common preventable risk factor for pregnancy complications, and is associated with poorer perinatal outcomes, including low birthweight, being small for gestational age, pre-term birth and perinatal death (AIHW and NIAA 2024). Women who stop smoking during pregnancy can reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for themselves and their babies.
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 (with smoking during pregnancy as a supporting indicator).
Data from the National Perinatal Data Collection show that the proportion of First Nations mothers who smoke during pregnancy has decreased over time. First Nations mothers, however, are more likely to smoke during pregnancy than non-Indigenous mothers.
At June 2025, 44% of (or around 2,100) female First Nations regular clients who gave birth within the previous 12 months smoked at some point during pregnancy, 40% (1,900) had never smoked and 16% (800) were ex-smokers (Figure 18).
The data visualisation below (Figure 18) shows, for each collection period from June 2017 to June 2025, the proportion of First Nations regular clients who gave birth within the previous 12 months by their smoking status during pregnancy. Select by either:
- organisation type
- remoteness
- state/territory
to see data for that breakdown.
Data tables supporting this visualisation are available at Data.
Figure 18: Smoking status during pregnancy by collection period
Overall, the proportion of First Nations regular clients who gave birth within the previous 12 months who either did not smoke or were an ex-smoker during pregnancy generally showed little or no change between December 2022 and June 2025.
Notes
- In June 2021, specifications changed for this indicator and data from that point on cannot be compared with previous periods. 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 2.21 Health behaviours during pregnancy, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 17 October 2025.