Australian Bureau of Statistics

Aussie Mums By Numbers

Victor P Taffa

Happy Mother’s Day Australia!

To help celebrate this Mother’s Day the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)  has put together some interesting statistics on Australian mothers.

• The median age of mothers who registered a birth in 2011 was 30.6 years, up from 30.0 years in 2001.
• 2011 was the first time birth registrations in Australia exceeded 300,000 (301,617 in 2011).
• In 2011, women could expect to have 1.9 children in their lifetime.
• The number of pregnancies resulting in multiple births has increased consistently since the 1970’s. In 2011, 4,560 pregnancies resulted in multiple births being registered. Of these, 62 were triplets or higher order multiples.
• In 2011, 357,500 women had a job while pregnant, of which 151,200 (or 42 %) were employees entitled to paid maternity leave. Of those entitled, 87 % took paid maternity leave either on full pay, half pay or a combination of both full pay and half pay for the birth of their child.
• A higher proportion of mothers whose youngest child was aged 5 years and under are employed now than in 2006-07. In 2011-12, 53 % of women whose youngest child was aged 5 years and under were employed, compared to 50 % in 2006-07.
• When their youngest child was aged 6-14 years, the proportion of mothers who were employed increased to 75 % in 2011-12.
• In 2011-12, 65 % of employed mothers with children aged 5 years and under worked part time. This decreased to 55 % when the youngest child was aged 6-14 years.
• In 2011, 86 % of mothers who returned to work after the birth of their child used at least 1 flexible work arrangement to assist with the care of their child – most commonly working part time (76 %), using flexible working hours (40 %) and working from home (30 %).
• Grandparents were relied upon by 27 % of mothers as their main type of child care when they started or returned to work after the birth of their child in 2011.