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Pregnancy & parenthood

Fertility rates* among young Australian women, 1980–2005

Age (years) 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
15–19 27.6 22.8 22.1 20.4 17.7 16.0
20–24 107.0 95.8 79.4 67.1 59.2 52.9

*Fertility rate = number of live births per 1,000 women

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2007, Young Australians: Their health and wellbeing 2007, AIHW, Canberra [viewed 13/06/07].

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Average age of first-time mums in 2004

According to the fourteenth annual report on pregnancy and childbirth in Australia released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Perinatal Statistics Unit, over 40% of births in 2004 were to first-time mums, who, at an average age of 28 years were about two years older than their 1991 counterparts.

The report, Australia's mothers and babies 2004, shows:

  • Of the 257,205 babies born to 252,871 mothers in 2004, 108,575 were born to first-time mums.
  • More than half (57.9%) were younger than 30 years old.
  • Mothers aged 35 years or older made up 12.5% of new mothers in 2004, compared with 6.9% in 1995 when the average age of first-time mothers was 26.5 years.
  • Close to 20% (49,411) of all women who gave birth in 2004 were aged 35 years or older.
  • Around 9.2% of babies born to first-time mothers were preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation), compared with 7.4% of babies born to women who had previously given birth.
  • Low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams) was more common in live-born babies of first-time mothers.

The report also showed that, compared with women who had previously given birth, first-time mothers had higher rates of interventions, such as induced labour and caesarean section.

The overall increase in caesarean sections continued with close to 30% of all mothers having caesarean sections in 2004, compared with less than 20% in 1995.

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, media release: First time mums getting older 19 Dec 2006.
[viewed 08/03/2007]

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Pregnant teens travel long distances to access abortions, 2006

Teenagers are 2.5 times more likely than older women to travel long distances to have abortions, a study of over 1000 women in eight private Melbourne clinics has found. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University have found nearly one in five Victorian teenagers (aged 15–19 years) were travelling over 100km to access services, compared to 10% of women in their 20s and 5% of women in their 30s.

The study, involving 1369 patients, was carried out in 2002–03 by Carolyn Nickson (now at University of Melbourne) and Professor Anthony Smith and Dr Julia Shelley, both from the Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society at Latrobe University.

Ms Nickson said that 'many abortion patients – teenagers in particular – face substantial and immediate costs beyond the service fee, as well as the difficulties associated with poor continuity of care and time away from home at a stressful time in their lives.

'Up to 13% of the teenagers in our survey were planning to stay away from home overnight due to the distance they had travelled [to access abortion services], and 11% definitely weren't planning to claim the service on Medicare,' she said.

The study is published in the August 2006 edition of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Sources:
Melbourne University 2006, Teens hit by shortage of country abortion services, media release, 14 August, Melbourne University [viewed 18/01/2007].
Herald Sun, 14/8/06, p.23.
Australian, 14/8/06, p.5.

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Medicare terminations in Victoria, 2003–04

Age No. of abortions
12 2
13 3
14 42
15 104
16 211
17 342
18 612
19 709
20-24 3,866

Source: Medicare-funded Abortion in Victoria by Age Group, 2003-2004, Health Insurance Commission, quoted in The Age, 30/08/04, p.5.

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Teenage mothers in Victoria, 2004

In a study of 100 young, pregnant Victorian women who were planning to continue their pregnancies, about a third had planned their pregnancies and many believed that having a baby would be one of their most positive experiences of their lives.

About half of the young women in the study were teenagers. of these, more than half were aged less than five when their parents had separated. The teenage mothers were also more likely to have been exposed to violence between their parents (22% compared to 2% among the older women), and to have higher rates of depression.

The study's author, Professor Julie Quinlivan (professor of obstetrics at Melbourne University and head of the Royal Women's Hospital's 'Young Mums' clinic), said that in her experience, about a third of teenage mothers cope well with their new role, about a third have a mixed experience and a third fare poorly.

About half of teenage mothers have another child within two years. The ones who do well have family support, get back into education and don't have another baby straight away.

60% of teenage mothers in the study who had smoked gave up when they became pregnant.

Nearly 75% who drank alcohol stopped when they became pregnant.

75% who had used illegal drugs stopped when they became pregnant.

Source: The Age, 21/06/04, p.5.
Professor Quinlivan's report was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 38, no.4 (April 2004), pp.197-203 under the title Impact of demographic factors, early family relationships and depressive symptomatology in teenage pregnancy.

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Teenage motherhood and marital status, 1971–2001

In 2001, 9% of births to teenage mothers were to married teenagers. In 1971 the percentage was 66%. The change reflects the change in attitudes to having children outside marriage during the period between 1971 and 2001.

Not all of the births to unmarried teenage mothers were to single mothers, since some of the mothers were in de facto relationships. In 1999, 45% of all births to teenage mothers were to mothers already married or living in a de facto relationship; 54% were to single mothers.

Births to teenage mothers by marital status, 1971–2001:


Year Married (no.) Not married (no.) % not married
1971 20,281 9,951 32.9
1981 7,736 10,076 56.6
1991 2,593 12,048 82.3
2001 1,110 10,706 90.7

Source: Australian Institute of Family Studies 2002, Family Matters, No. 63, Spring/Summer 2002, pp.37–8, Trends and Statistics [viewed 18/01/2007].

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Fertility rates for Indigenous young women, 2001

The fertility rate of Indigenous women has declined significantly since the early 1960s when it was 5.8 babies per woman, to 2.14 babies per woman in 2001. (Births are classified as Indigenous if one parent identifies as Indigenous; fertility refers to women who identify as Indigenous.) The rate for all Australian women was 1.73 babies per woman.

Births where at least one parent was Indigenous made up 5% of all births.

Just on half (49.8%) the births to Indigenous women were to young women under 25 years of age.

Births to Indigenous women aged 24 years and under made up 2.1% of all births and 11.6% of all births by young women.

Source: Susan Pitman, et al. 2004, Profile of young Australians: Facts, figures and issues Foundation for Young Australians, Melbourne, pp.30-1 [viewed 18/01/2007].

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Teenage pregnancies, 2001

In 2001, there were 246,393 births to females of all ages in Australia.

Of these, 11,704 were live births to females aged 19 years or younger and 37,208 were live births to females aged 20–24 years. These accounted for 5% and 15% of all live births, respectively.

The birth rate for females aged 19 years or younger in Australia is high compared with other countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 1998, in a comparison of teenage birth rates in 28 countries, the Australian birth rate ranked 11th highest with a rate of 18.4 births per 1,000 females aged 15–19. (Korea had the lowest rate of teenage births with a rate of 2.9 per 1,000 females and the United States had the highest rate – 52.1 births per 1,000 females (UNICEF 2001). It is believed that the rate of teenage pregnancy in Australia is underestimated.

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2003, Australia's young people: Their health and wellbeing 2003, cat. no. PHE 50, AIHW, Canberra, pp.132–3.

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Terminations, 1970–1999

Only South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory collect data on induced abortions and only South Australia publishes its data. In 1999, more than half (54.4%) of all teenage pregnancies in South Australia were terminated.

One study has estimated that in New South Wales at least 15% of all induced abortions were not recorded in the HIC data (Adelson et al. 1995). A proportion of these may have been because the pregnant young teenagers did not yet have their own Medicare card (Adelson et al. 1995).

Reliable elective abortion data has been available in South Australia since 1970 and is used here to present trends over time in confinements and abortions in that state (source: Van der Klis et al. 2002).


 Confinements Terminations Pregnancies
Year
Period		 Number Percent of
pregnancies
in state		 Number Percent of
pregnancies
in state		 Number Percent of
pregnancies
in state		 Terminations
as a
proportion of
pregnancies
1970–74 11,742 11.1 3,125 27.5 14,867 12.6 21.0
1975–79 8,727 9.3 5,001 31.7 13,728 12.5 36.4
1980–84 6,910 7.3 5,756 29.1 12,666 11.1 45.4
1985–89 5,775 6.0 5,228 24.6 11,003 9.4 47.5
1990–94 5,651 5.8 5,022 20.9 10,673 8.7 47.1
1995–99 5,074 5.4 5,903 21.3 10,977 9.1 53.8

In South Australia abortion increased as a proportion of teenage pregnancies, from 21% in the period 1970–74, to just over half of all pregnancies in the period 1995–99 (54%).

During 1995–99, there was a total of 10,977 pregnancies in females aged 13–19. Over 60% of these pregnancies (6,747) were to females aged 18–19 and 37% were to females aged 15–17. The remaining 1% was in females aged 12–14.

The number, proportion and rates of pregnancy increased with age. The younger the pregnant female, the more likely her pregnancy was terminated – 83% of pregnancies in females aged 13 ended in terminations, compared with 47% in females aged 19.

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2003, Australia's young people: their health and wellbeing 2003, cat. no. PHE 50, AIHW, Canberra, pp.132–4.

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Australian secondary school students and sexual health, 2002

Percent of students who reported 'having had sex that resulted in a pregnancy': 6%
...who 'were uncertain if this was the case or not': 7.5%

Percent of sexually active Year 10 students who reported that they always used condoms: 65.8%
...Year 12 students: 51.8%

The 3rd national Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2002 survey by The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, revealed an increase in sexual activity among Year 10 and 12 students over the last decade. 2,388 young people from all States and Territories, in both the public and private school systems, were surveyed.

Source: Smith, A., Agius, P., Dyson, S., Mitchell, A. & Pitts, M. 2002, Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2002, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne.

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Young mothers worldwide, 2003

Number of young women (15–19) worldwide who give birth each year: 14 million

Percent of married females (15–19) in developing countries who use family planning: 17%

Estimated number of young women (15–19) who undergo unsafe abortion worldwide in a year: 5 million

The United Nations report on world population presents data on the lives of adolescents across nations, and identifies adolescent girls as especially vulnerable to risks from unprotected sex, early childbirth and sexual violence.

Source: United Nations Population Fund, 2003, State of World Population 2003, UNFPA, New York [viewed 18/01/2007].
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