Teenage motherhood and marital status, 1971–2001
In 2001, 9% of births to teenage mothers were to married teenagers. In 1971 the percentage was 66%. The change reflects the change in attitudes to having children outside marriage during the period between 1971 and 2001.
Not all of the births to unmarried teenage mothers were to single mothers, since some of the mothers were in de facto relationships. In 1999, 45% of all births to teenage mothers were to mothers already married or living in a de facto relationship; 54% were to single mothers.
Births to teenage mothers by marital status, 1971–2001:
| Year | Married (no.) | Not married (no.) | % not married |
| 1971 | 20,281 | 9,951 | 32.9 |
| 1981 | 7,736 | 10,076 | 56.6 |
| 1991 | 2,593 | 12,048 | 82.3 |
| 2001 | 1,110 | 10,706 | 90.7 |
Source: Australian Institute of Family Studies 2002, Family Matters, No. 63, Spring/Summer 2002, pp.37–8, Trends and Statistics [viewed 18/01/2007].
Fertility rates for Indigenous young women, 2001
The fertility rate of Indigenous women has declined significantly since the early 1960s when it was 5.8 babies per woman, to 2.14 babies per woman in 2001. (Births are classified as Indigenous if one parent identifies as Indigenous; fertility refers to women who identify as Indigenous.) The rate for all Australian women was 1.73 babies per woman.
Births where at least one parent was Indigenous made up 5% of all births.
Just on half (49.8%) the births to Indigenous women were to young women under 25 years of age.
Births to Indigenous women aged 24 years and under made up 2.1% of all births and 11.6% of all births by young women.
Source: Susan Pitman, et al. 2004, Profile of young Australians: Facts, figures and issues Foundation for Young Australians, Melbourne, pp.30-1 [viewed 18/01/2007].
Back to topTeenage pregnancies, 2001
In 2001, there were 246,393 births to females of all ages in Australia.
Of these, 11,704 were live births to females aged 19 years or younger and 37,208 were live births to females aged 20–24 years. These accounted for 5% and 15% of all live births, respectively.
The birth rate for females aged 19 years or younger in Australia is high compared with other countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 1998, in a comparison of teenage birth rates in 28 countries, the Australian birth rate ranked 11th highest with a rate of 18.4 births per 1,000 females aged 15–19. (Korea had the lowest rate of teenage births with a rate of 2.9 per 1,000 females and the United States had the highest rate – 52.1 births per 1,000 females (UNICEF 2001). It is believed that the rate of teenage pregnancy in Australia is underestimated.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2003, Australia's young people: Their health and wellbeing 2003, cat. no. PHE 50, AIHW, Canberra, pp.132–3.
Terminations, 1970–1999
Only South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory collect data on induced abortions and only South Australia publishes its data. In 1999, more than half (54.4%) of all teenage pregnancies in South Australia were terminated.
One study has estimated that in New South Wales at least 15% of all induced abortions were not recorded in the HIC data (Adelson et al. 1995). A proportion of these may have been because the pregnant young teenagers did not yet have their own Medicare card (Adelson et al. 1995).
Reliable elective abortion data has been available in South Australia since 1970 and is used here to present trends over time in confinements and abortions in that state (source: Van der Klis et al. 2002).
| Confinements | Terminations | Pregnancies | |||||
| Year Period |
Number | Percent of pregnancies in state |
Number | Percent of pregnancies in state |
Number | Percent of pregnancies in state |
Terminations as a proportion of pregnancies |
| 1970–74 | 11,742 | 11.1 | 3,125 | 27.5 | 14,867 | 12.6 | 21.0 |
| 1975–79 | 8,727 | 9.3 | 5,001 | 31.7 | 13,728 | 12.5 | 36.4 |
| 1980–84 | 6,910 | 7.3 | 5,756 | 29.1 | 12,666 | 11.1 | 45.4 |
| 1985–89 | 5,775 | 6.0 | 5,228 | 24.6 | 11,003 | 9.4 | 47.5 |
| 1990–94 | 5,651 | 5.8 | 5,022 | 20.9 | 10,673 | 8.7 | 47.1 |
| 1995–99 | 5,074 | 5.4 | 5,903 | 21.3 | 10,977 | 9.1 | 53.8 |
In South Australia abortion increased as a proportion of teenage pregnancies, from 21% in the period 1970–74, to just over half of all pregnancies in the period 1995–99 (54%).
During 1995–99, there was a total of 10,977 pregnancies in females aged 13–19. Over 60% of these pregnancies (6,747) were to females aged 18–19 and 37% were to females aged 15–17. The remaining 1% was in females aged 12–14.
The number, proportion and rates of pregnancy increased with age. The younger the pregnant female, the more likely her pregnancy was terminated – 83% of pregnancies in females aged 13 ended in terminations, compared with 47% in females aged 19.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2003, Australia's young people: their health and wellbeing 2003, cat. no. PHE 50, AIHW, Canberra, pp.132–4.
Back to topAustralian secondary school students and sexual health, 2002
Percent of students who reported 'having had sex that resulted in a pregnancy': 6%
...who 'were uncertain if this was the case or not': 7.5%
Percent of sexually active Year 10 students who reported that they always used condoms: 65.8%
...Year 12 students: 51.8%
Source: Smith, A., Agius, P., Dyson, S., Mitchell, A. & Pitts, M. 2002, Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2002, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne.
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Young mothers worldwide, 2003
Number of young women (15–19) worldwide who give birth each year: 14 million
Percent of married females (15–19) in developing countries who use family planning: 17%
Estimated number of young women (15–19) who undergo unsafe abortion worldwide in a year: 5 million
The United Nations report on world population presents data on the lives of adolescents across nations, and identifies adolescent girls as especially vulnerable to risks from unprotected sex, early childbirth and sexual violence.