In brief
Australia recorded 299,903 births in 2025, a 2.6% jump from 2024, as the total fertility rate edged up to 1.497 babies per woman. State‑level analysis shows Tasmania with the highest fertility at 1.568 and the Australian Capital Territory the lowest at 1.283. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women had a substantially higher rate of 2.234, accounting for 8.9% of all births.
Australia recorded 299,903 registered births in 2025, an increase of 2.6 % from the previous year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The figure reflects a continued rise in the number of childbirths, despite the national total fertility rate remaining well below historically typical levels.
The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would birth over her lifetime if current age‑specific birth rates persisted. In 2025 the rate was 1.497 babies per woman, compared with 1.481 in 2024, and still below the threshold of 1.5 that has been in place for three consecutive years.
The 299,903 births represent a 2.6 % increase over 2024's 292,597 registrations. This surge is part of a broader demographic trend, with the number of women aged 15 to 49—those typically in the reproductive age bracket—rising from 5.7 million in 2015 to 6.6 million in 2025.
Beidar Cho, the ABS head of population statistics, highlighted the sustained decline in fertility rates across the country. “This is the third consecutive year the total fertility rate for Australia has been below 1.5 and is well below the 1.8 babies per woman seen a decade earlier in 2015,” he said.
“This is the third consecutive year the total fertility rate for Australia has been below 1.5 and is well below the 1.8 babies per woman seen a decade earlier in 2015,”
State‑level data show Tasmania leading with a fertility rate of 1.568 babies per woman, while the Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest rate at 1.283. Across all states and territories, ABS officials note a general decline over the past decade, suggesting that fertility diminishes as part of long‑term demographic shifts.
Births among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women formed a distinctive component of the 2025 statistics. Their fertility rate stood at 2.234 babies per woman, markedly higher than the national average. In absolute terms, 26,733 births were registered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in 2025.
These 26,733 births represent 8.9 % of all births recorded in Australia that year. While this proportion is a significant portion of the national birth cohort, it also underscores the fertility disparities that persist within different population groups.
The 2025 data reinforce the observation that Australia remains below the replacement fertility threshold of 2.1, with a continued historical trend of low fertility. The modest growth in the number of registered births—while encouraging—does not yet translate into a sustained increase in the total fertility rate, pointing to the enduring challenges of demographic sustainability.
In sum, Australia’s 2025 birth registration figures reveal a small step upward in both birth counts and fertility rates, yet they also highlight persistent regional and ethnic variations that will shape future population policy and health services.
