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Australia's fertility rate falls to 1.48 births per woman in 2024

Australia's fertility rate was 1.48 births per woman in 2024, the lowest figure in the 2015 to 2024 series.

Published 2 min read

  • 20151.81
  • 20161.75
  • 20171.74
  • 20181.74
  • 20191.66
  • 20201.58
  • 20211.7
  • 20221.63
  • 20231.5
  • 20241.48
Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · World Bank

Australia Fertility rate →

What the latest figure says

Australian families are having fewer children on average than they were a decade ago. In 2024, Australia's total fertility rate was 1.48 births per woman.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank

That is the lowest value in the yearly figures available here, which start in 2015. In 2015 the rate was 1.81 births per woman.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank
  • F3 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.81 · 2015 · World Bank

Year by year, 2015 to 2024

The rate fell from 1.81 in 2015 to 1.75 in 2016 and 1.74 in 2017. It stayed at 1.74 in 2018.

Sources for this paragraph (4)
  • F3 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.81 · 2015 · World Bank
  • F4 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.75 · 2016 · World Bank
  • F5 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.74 · 2017 · World Bank
  • F6 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.74 · 2018 · World Bank

It then dropped to 1.66 in 2019 and 1.58 in 2020.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F7 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.66 · 2019 · World Bank
  • F8 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.58 · 2020 · World Bank

In 2021 the rate rose to 1.7. That was the only yearly increase in the series.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F9 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.7 · 2021 · World Bank
  • F8 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.58 · 2020 · World Bank

After that it fell again: 1.63 in 2022, 1.5 in 2023 and 1.48 in 2024. The drop from 2023 to 2024 was smaller than the drop from 2022 to 2023.

Sources for this paragraph (3)
  • F10 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.63 · 2022 · World Bank
  • F2 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.5 · 2023 · World Bank
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank

All figures are annual and measured in births per woman. Each one compares a full year with the year before, not month with month.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank
  • F2 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.5 · 2023 · World Bank

How Australia compares in 2024

Australia's 2024 rate of 1.48 sits in the middle of a group of comparable countries measured the same way.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank

It was below the United States at 1.63 and the United Kingdom at 1.55.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F15 United States Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.63 · 2024 · World Bank
  • F12 United Kingdom Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.55 · 2024 · World Bank

It was above Canada at 1.25, Japan at 1.15 and South Korea at 0.75.

Sources for this paragraph (3)
  • F11 Canada Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.25 · 2024 · World Bank
  • F13 Japan Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.15 · 2024 · World Bank
  • F14 South Korea Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 0.75 · 2024 · World Bank

What it means for people in Australia

The fertility rate is a summary of how many children a woman would have over her life if the birth patterns of a given year held. In 2024 that figure for Australia was 1.48.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank

The figures here do not show why the rate has fallen. They also do not show effects on schools, housing, jobs or the cost of living, so this report does not draw those links.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank
  • F3 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.81 · 2015 · World Bank

Australia's population still grew by 1.53% in 2025. That is a different measure from the fertility rate, and the facts here do not break down what drove that growth.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • C10 Australia Population growth (annual %) · 1.53% · 2025 · World Bank

What the data does not tell us

The series ends in 2024. There is no figure here for 2025 or later.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank

The data gives national averages only. It does not show differences by state, age group or income.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • F1 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.48 · 2024 · World Bank

The figures do not explain the causes of the fall from 1.81 in 2015, or of the one-year rise to 1.7 in 2021.

Sources for this paragraph (2)
  • F3 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.81 · 2015 · World Bank
  • F9 Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.7 · 2021 · World Bank

Scenarios to watch

  • Scenario, not a forecast If the next yearly release shows a figure above 1.48, 2024 would stand as the low point of this series so far.
  • Scenario, not a forecast If the next yearly release shows a figure below 1.48, the run of yearly falls that began after 2021 would extend for another year.

What to check next

  • The next annual total fertility rate for Australia, covering 2025
  • Whether the next figure is above or below 1.48 births per woman
  • Updated 2025 figures for the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and South Korea for comparison
  • Any breakdown of the fertility rate by state or age group

Verified data used in this report

IndicatorValuePeriodSourcesAccessed
F1Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.482024World Bank
F10Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.632022World Bank
F11Canada Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.252024World Bank
F12United Kingdom Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.552024World Bank
F13Japan Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.152024World Bank
F14South Korea Fertility rate, total (births per woman)0.752024World Bank
F15United States Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.632024World Bank
F2Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.52023World Bank
F3Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.812015World Bank
F4Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.752016World Bank
F5Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.742017World Bank
F6Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.742018World Bank
F7Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.662019World Bank
F8Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.582020World Bank
F9Australia Fertility rate, total (births per woman)1.72021World Bank
C1Australia consumer price inflation (12-month change)4.3%2026-09Australian Bureau of Statistics
C2Australia electricity price inflation (12-month change)12.8%2026-09Australian Bureau of Statistics
C3Australia food price inflation (12-month change)3.2%2026-09Australian Bureau of Statistics
C4Australia rent prices (CPI, 12-month change)3.6%2026-09Australian Bureau of Statistics
C5Australia unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted)4.72%2026-09Australian Bureau of Statistics
C6Australia GDP growth (annual %)1.35%2025World Bank
C7Australia Unemployment, total (% of labour force, ILO modelled estimate)4.09%2025World Bank
C9Australia Population aged 65 and above (% of total population)18.09%2025World Bank
C10Australia Population growth (annual %)1.53%2025World Bank

Sources

  • Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) — license
  • Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (CC BY 4.0) — license

How this report was checked

  • Data: the newest reference period cited is 2026-09.
  • Figures were collected from the source on
  • Written by an AI model (claude-opus-5-5) using only the official figures listed in this report.
  • Automatic checks passed: every number matches a cited figure, every paragraph names its evidence, and there is no investment advice or copied source text.
  • A separate quality-check model raised concerns, and the report was rewritten once to address them.
  • No person reviewed this report before publication. Automatic checks confirm the numbers, not every interpretation.
  • The report has been regenerated 1 time(s); see the update history.
Update history
  • 2026-10-27 07:02 UTC — created
  • 2026-10-29 14:00 UTC — regenerated
  • 2026-10-29 14:00 UTC — approved+published

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