Recent Trends In Australian Fertility

A new Productivity Commission Staff Working Paper finds that there is no current or impending fertility crisis in Australia. Births in Australia are at an historical high - with around 285 000 babies born in 2007. This corresponds to an estimated total fertility rate1 of 1.93 babies per woman, the highest since the early 1980s. The key question for Australia's demographic future is whether (business cycle effects aside) fertility levels will stay at roughly their current level, or resume the downward trend apparent before the recent recovery. There is no fertility 'crisis'. Fertility rates have been generally rising for the last six years, and evidence suggests that after its long downward trend since the Second World War, Australia's fertility rate may have stabilised at around 1.75 to 1.9 babies per woman. Overall, Australia appears to be in a 'safe zone' of fertility, despite fertility levels below replacement levels. With current fertility rates, Australia's population growth rate is still projected to be one of the highest in the developed world because of migrant inflows.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most countries in Europe and English-speaking countries outside Europe experienced a fertility transition, where fertility fell from high levels to relatively low levels. England and the other English-speaking countries experienced this from the 1870s, while fertility in Australia began to fall in the 1880s. This book investigates the fertility transition in Tasmania, the second settled colony of Australia, using both statistical evidence and historical sources. The book examines detailed evidence from the 1904 New South Wales Royal Commission into the Fall in the Birth Rate, which the Commissioners regarded as applying not only to NSW, but to every state in Australia. Many theories have been proposed as to why fertility declined at this time: theories of economic and social development; economic theories; diffusion theories; the spread of secularisation; increased availability of artificial methods of contraception; and changes in the rates of infant and child mortality. The role of women in the fertility transition has generally been ignored. The investigation concludes that fertility declined in Tasmania in the late 19th century in a period of remarkable social and economic transformation, with industrialisation, urbanisation, improvements in transport and communication, increasing levels of education and opportunities for social mobility. One of the major social changes was in the status and role of women, who became the driving force behind the fertility decline.

This data booklet summarises and presents key fertility indicators on world fertility patterns from the latest population estimates and projections, World Population Prospects 2015. The relevant data and evidence are made available in an easily accessible manner.

"This is a tour de force in cohort fertility analysis, a deep and powerful piece of work. It is a striking demonstration of the force of really detailed empirical analysis of excellent and comprehensive data, with the data looked at from every angle and judiciously extrapolated into the future. It represents a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary low fertility in Europe and other developed nations..." Thomas K. Burch, University of Victoria, BC, Canada

An award-winning scientist, in this urgent, thought-provoking and meticulously researched book, shows how chemicals in the modern environment are changing--and endangering--human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale.

This book looks at the different ways in which governments support families.

The 2019 edition of Pensions at a Glance highlights the pension reforms undertaken by OECD countries over the last two years. Moreover, two special chapters focus on non-standard work and pensions in OECD countries, take stock of different approaches to organising pensions for non-standard workers in the OECD, discuss why non-standard work raises pension issues and suggest how pension settings could be improved.