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Economists are blaming cost-of-living pressures for plummeting birth rates, saying there’s been a decline in baby numbers not seen since the 1970s.
KPMG analysed recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data, which shows a consistently declining birth rate across most capital cities, except Canberra.
Using ABS data, KPMG calculated a total of 289,100 births in Australia last year — a decrease of around 13,000 babies on 2022.
This was even lower than the Covid period birth numbers of just 293,700 in 2020.
“That’s quite a significant drop and we had to look back to the 1970s to see the same level of decline,” KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said.
He said the “baby recession” was most pronounced in capital cities, which could show a link to economic factors.
“Housing, for example, is much more expensive in Melbourne than in Geelong,” he said.
“So people who are thinking about starting families, the mortgage and the rent is the first thing.
“If they’re struggling to pay those, having a first child or having additional children becomes a really tough financial proposition for them.”
“That’s probably a bit of a housing affordability story,” Mr Rawnsley said.
“The CPI increases in those two areas weren’t quite as high as the rest of the country so there’s probably a little bit of cost-of-living buffer in those cities.”
Birth rates in inner suburban areas in most cities were also lower than outer suburban, and regional areas.
Melbourne couple Carina La Delfa and Daniel Rosenow work together at a bakery in the south-eastern suburb of McKinnon — around 13 kilometres from the CBD.
They opened the business last year and work seven days a week.
“It’s our first business, we want to be involved as much as we can,” Mr Rosenow said.
The couple has been together for 12 years, and Daniel says he “can’t think of anything better” than to have children.
But they can’t afford it yet.
“I wouldn’t say that we’re in the financial situation to have kids,” said Ms La Delfa.
