Fertility & birth rates in Australia and New Zealand

Fertility rate in Australia vs New Zealand chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Australia was 1.5 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.56 in New Zealand in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Australia vs New Zealand population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Australia	New Zealand
1960	3.45	4.24
1961	3.54	4.31
1962	3.44	4.19
1963	3.33	4.05
1964	3.15	3.8
1965	2.98	3.54
1966	2.88	3.41
1967	2.85	3.35
1968	2.89	3.34
1969	2.89	3.28
1970	2.86	3.17
1971	2.96	3.18
1972	2.74	3
1973	2.49	2.76
1974	2.4	2.58
1975	2.15	2.37
1976	2.06	2.27
1977	2.01	2.21
1978	1.95	2.07
1979	1.91	2.12
1980	1.89	2.03
1981	1.94	2.01
1982	1.93	1.95
1983	1.92	1.92
1984	1.84	1.93
1985	1.92	1.93
1986	1.87	1.96
1987	1.85	2.03
1988	1.83	2.1
1989	1.84	2.12
1990	1.9	2.18
1991	1.85	2.09
1992	1.89	2.06
1993	1.86	2.04
1994	1.84	1.98
1995	1.82	1.98
1996	1.8	1.96
1997	1.78	1.96
1998	1.76	1.89
1999	1.76	1.97
2000	1.76	1.98
2001	1.74	1.97
2002	1.76	1.89
2003	1.75	1.93
2004	1.77	1.98
2005	1.81	1.97
2006	1.91	2.01
2007	1.96	2.18
2008	1.98	2.19
2009	1.97	2.13
2010	1.93	2.17
2011	1.93	2.09
2012	1.92	2.1
2013	1.86	2.01
2014	1.83	1.92
2015	1.81	1.99
2016	1.75	1.87
2017	1.74	1.81
2018	1.74	1.71
2019	1.66	1.72
2020	1.58	1.61
2021	1.7	1.64
2022	1.63	1.66
2023	1.5	1.56
2024	1.5	1.55
2025	1.5	1.54
2026	1.5	1.53
2027	1.5	1.53
2028	1.51	1.52
2029	1.5	1.52
2030	1.51	1.52
2031	1.5	1.52
2032	1.5	1.52
2033	1.5	1.51
2034	1.5	1.51
2035	1.5	1.51
2036	1.5	1.51
2037	1.5	1.51
2038	1.5	1.51
2039	1.5	1.51
2040	1.5	1.51
2041	1.5	1.51
2042	1.5	1.51
2043	1.5	1.51
2044	1.5	1.51
2045	1.5	1.51
2046	1.5	1.51
2047	1.5	1.51
2048	1.5	1.51
2049	1.5	1.51
2050	1.5	1.51

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Australia	New Zealand
1960	30.2%	32.8%
1961	30.2%	33%
1962	30.1%	33%
1963	29.9%	32.9%
1964	29.8%	32.9%
1965	29.6%	32.7%
1966	29.5%	32.6%
1967	29.3%	32.5%
1968	29.1%	32.3%
1969	28.9%	32.2%
1970	28.8%	31.9%
1971	28.7%	31.7%
1972	28.5%	31.4%
1973	28.2%	31%
1974	27.9%	30.5%
1975	27.5%	30.1%
1976	27%	29.6%
1977	26.5%	29%
1978	26.1%	28.4%
1979	25.6%	27.8%
1980	25.3%	27.2%
1981	25%	26.7%
1982	24.7%	26.2%
1983	24.4%	25.6%
1984	24%	25.1%
1985	23.6%	24.6%
1986	23.1%	24.2%
1987	22.7%	23.8%
1988	22.4%	23.5%
1989	22.2%	23.3%
1990	22%	23.3%
1991	21.9%	23.2%
1992	21.8%	23.1%
1993	21.7%	23.1%
1994	21.7%	23.1%
1995	21.5%	23.1%
1996	21.4%	23%
1997	21.2%	23%
1998	21.1%	23%
1999	20.9%	22.9%
2000	20.8%	22.8%
2001	20.6%	22.6%
2002	20.4%	22.4%
2003	20.2%	22.1%
2004	20%	21.8%
2005	19.8%	21.5%
2006	19.6%	21.3%
2007	19.4%	21.1%
2008	19.3%	21%
2009	19.2%	20.9%
2010	19.1%	20.9%
2011	19%	20.8%
2012	18.9%	20.6%
2013	18.9%	20.4%
2014	18.9%	20.2%
2015	18.9%	19.9%
2016	18.9%	19.6%
2017	18.8%	19.5%
2018	18.8%	19.3%
2019	18.7%	19.2%
2020	18.6%	19%
2021	18.4%	18.9%
2022	18.2%	18.6%
2023	18%	18.4%
2024	17.8%	18.1%
2025	17.7%	17.9%
2026	17.5%	17.6%
2027	17.4%	17.4%
2028	17.2%	17.2%
2029	17%	17%
2030	16.9%	16.8%
2031	16.7%	16.6%
2032	16.6%	16.4%
2033	16.5%	16.3%
2034	16.4%	16.1%
2035	16.3%	16%
2036	16.2%	15.9%
2037	16.1%	15.8%
2038	16%	15.7%
2039	15.9%	15.6%
2040	15.9%	15.5%
2041	15.8%	15.4%
2042	15.8%	15.4%
2043	15.7%	15.4%
2044	15.7%	15.3%
2045	15.7%	15.3%
2046	15.7%	15.3%
2047	15.7%	15.3%
2048	15.7%	15.3%
2049	15.7%	15.2%
2050	15.7%	15.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 17.8% of the population in Australia and 18.1% in New Zealand in 2024, compared to 22% and 23.3% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Australia and New Zealand compared.

Natural population change in Australia vs New Zealand by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.56% in Australia and +0.51% in New Zealand. The chart below illustrates the comparison of the absolute yearly changes resulting from births and deaths.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Australia	New Zealand
1960	141,816	41,791
1961	150,955	43,482
1962	143,943	42,865
1963	140,161	42,027
1964	128,420	39,375
1965	122,990	36,982
1966	126,996	36,151
1967	126,249	37,974
1968	132,099	37,594
1969	143,477	38,098
1970	145,081	37,101
1971	165,593	40,000
1972	155,488	38,244
1973	136,476	35,239
1974	128,996	33,896
1975	123,648	31,355
1976	115,070	29,456
1977	117,793	28,020
1978	116,299	26,156
1979	116,112	26,675
1980	117,536	23,658
1981	125,356	25,374
1982	126,030	24,207
1983	130,844	24,315
1984	123,077	26,043
1985	143,674	24,126
1986	123,342	25,549
1987	128,484	27,603
1988	127,298	29,846
1989	127,789	30,749
1990	143,347	33,298
1991	138,273	33,518
1992	139,829	32,067
1993	137,551	31,685
1994	131,761	30,372
1995	131,436	29,828
1996	125,751	28,997
1997	121,592	30,137
1998	120,949	29,146
1999	118,517	28,916
2000	119,882	29,897
2001	117,575	27,939
2002	116,971	25,941
2003	118,325	28,150
2004	115,610	29,634
2005	129,132	30,674
2006	132,931	30,924
2007	154,124	35,480
2008	155,119	35,143
2009	160,518	33,560
2010	158,628	35,458
2011	156,380	31,302
2012	161,408	31,077
2013	159,584	29,096
2014	154,940	26,196
2015	150,041	29,408
2016	152,403	28,237
2017	150,015	26,282
2018	157,269	24,797
2019	136,808	25,344
2020	133,376	24,993
2021	138,701	23,767
2022	111,862	20,264
2023	103,945	19,039

Maternal mortality chart: Australia vs New Zealand

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 2 deaths per 100,000 live births in Australia, compared to 7 deaths in New Zealand.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Australia	New Zealand
1985	9	19
1986	8	18
1987	9	19
1988	9	19
1989	9	18
1990	9	18
1991	9	16
1992	9	15
1993	9	14
1994	9	13
1995	9	14
1996	8	14
1997	8	13
1998	7	12
1999	7	12
2000	7	11
2001	6	10
2002	6	11
2003	5	11
2004	5	11
2005	5	11
2006	5	10
2007	5	10
2008	5	10
2009	5	10
2010	5	10
2011	6	10
2012	6	9
2013	6	8
2014	6	7
2015	6	8
2016	6	8
2017	6	8
2018	5	7
2019	5	8
2020	5	8
2021	4	8
2022	4	23
2023	2	7

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.37% in Australia and 0.47% in New Zealand. Below is the historical data on under-five mortality rates.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Australia	New Zealand
1960	2.49%	2.78%
1961	2.43%	2.68%
1962	2.37%	2.58%
1963	2.32%	2.48%
1964	2.27%	2.39%
1965	2.24%	2.31%
1966	2.21%	2.25%
1967	2.2%	2.2%
1968	2.19%	2.16%
1969	2.18%	2.12%
1970	2.15%	2.08%
1971	2.1%	2.03%
1972	2.03%	1.98%
1973	1.94%	1.94%
1974	1.84%	1.88%
1975	1.73%	1.83%
1976	1.62%	1.77%
1977	1.52%	1.71%
1978	1.44%	1.66%
1979	1.36%	1.61%
1980	1.3%	1.56%
1981	1.26%	1.52%
1982	1.22%	1.48%
1983	1.19%	1.45%
1984	1.16%	1.41%
1985	1.13%	1.38%
1986	1.1%	1.34%
1987	1.06%	1.29%
1988	1.02%	1.24%
1989	0.97%	1.18%
1990	0.92%	1.12%
1991	0.87%	1.06%
1992	0.82%	1%
1993	0.77%	0.95%
1994	0.73%	0.91%
1995	0.7%	0.87%
1996	0.68%	0.84%
1997	0.66%	0.81%
1998	0.64%	0.78%
1999	0.63%	0.76%
2000	0.62%	0.74%
2001	0.61%	0.72%
2002	0.6%	0.7%
2003	0.59%	0.69%
2004	0.58%	0.67%
2005	0.57%	0.66%
2006	0.56%	0.65%
2007	0.54%	0.65%
2008	0.52%	0.64%
2009	0.5%	0.63%
2010	0.48%	0.62%
2011	0.45%	0.61%
2012	0.43%	0.6%
2013	0.41%	0.59%
2014	0.4%	0.57%
2015	0.39%	0.56%
2016	0.38%	0.55%
2017	0.38%	0.53%
2018	0.38%	0.52%
2019	0.38%	0.51%
2020	0.38%	0.5%
2021	0.37%	0.49%
2022	0.37%	0.48%
2023	0.37%	0.47%