WelCom August 2024
Not since the stagflation-hit 1970s has Australia experienced as sharp a drop in fertility as it has in recent years, an analysis by KPMG Australia reveals. Sydney is leading the nation’s baby drought as cost-of-living pressure and out-of-reach house prices dampen the desire of young couples to start or expand their families. Birthrates in Melbourne and Perth are also plummeting. Since the post-Covid lockdown baby spike in 2021 – when 315,200 babies were born – the national birthrate has nose-dived, with 289,100 babies born last calendar year, the lowest annual number since 2006.
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