A new study suggests, older, richer and more educated women are more likely to drink alcohol while pregnant. Courtesy: Chat Room, Nine News Now
More Australian women are having babies later in life. Source: Supplied
More Australian women are waiting until later in life to become mothers.
Figures just released show a significant jump in the number of births last year to mums aged 45 to 49 - a record 736 children in 2012, up from the then record 661 born in 2011.
The continuing social trend means mothers over the age of 40 are now more common than teenage mums. While ten years ago there were 3,838 more babies born to teenagers than women over 40, the older category now exceeds the younger by 1,854 births.
"There are a number of factors for this," said Bjorn Jarvis, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. "It includes education, legislation, employment opportunities as well as economic conditions."
Peter McDonald, professor of demography at the Australian National University, said women were placing a greater emphasis on other aspects of their lives when they were young.
"Women want to pursue their careers, education and interests and babies get in the way of them," he said.
However, Prof McDonald doubts the social change will start producing mothers over the age of 50.
"I don't think many women would want a baby in their 50s," he said.
Instead, he predicts the age of mothers will "level out" as the next generation of women do the opposite of their mother.
"In the past the pattern was to get married, have babies and then work," Prof MacDonald said. "Now work comes before babies. The next generation is less likely to delay births like their mothers are."
Collette Dinnigan with daughter Estella (l) and son Desmond (r). Picture: Sunday Style Source: Sunday Style
The ABS report shows more than 309,000 babies were born in Australia in 2012, increasing almost 8,000 from the previous year.
The national fertility rate grew to 1.933 (1.933 births for every 1,000 women), an increase of 10.1 per cent from 1.756 a decade ago.
"This is just below the replacement level of 2.1," explained Mr Jarvis. "But in the 1950s the fertility rate was around 4. We have seen a dramatic social change since that time."
In other trends, multiple births are down, with only 4,480 women giving birth to twins, triplets or more.
But there is a rapid growth in the number of foreign-born parents starting new families in Australia. The number of babies born in Australia to foreign parents, both from the same country, was 54,588. This has more than doubled from 26,055 recorded in 2007.
Victoria was the state with the biggest baby increase, jumping 5,961 since 2011, while New South Wales saw the biggest decline with 546 less babies.
Tasmania was the only other state with a decrease in births.
Nationally, Wyndham in Victoria was the region with the single biggest baby boom, increasing by 643 births since 2011.
March continues to be the most popular month for births in Australia with 25,798 babies born, making June the most productive month for conception.
And for names, parents were going with Charlotte and William as the top choices in 2012.
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