ACT region baby boom continues

The latest national data on mothers and babies shows the ACT continues to experience a baby boom, with well over five thousand babies born in the ACT each year.

“Not only has the number of births been steadily increasing, but we are also seeing some positive trends such as lower rates of smoking by pregnant women in the ACT, fewer teenage pregnancies and lower caesarean section rates,” Ms Gallagher said.

“Generally, ACT residents compare favourably to other jurisdictions on most aspects of maternal and perinatal health.”

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows that 5,419 women gave birth to 5,535 babies in the ACT in 2007, up 12.4 per cent since 2004.

The average age of women who gave birth in the ACT during 2006 was 30.5 years, slightly higher than the Australian average which was 29.9 years. The 30-34 age group gave birth to the most babies (1,891 or 34.9 per cent), followed by the 25-29 age group (1,458 or 26.9 per cent), and the 35-39 age group (1,106 or 20.4 per cent).

The ACT (along with Victoria) had the lowest percentage of teenage mothers and the highest percentage of mothers aged over 40 years.

“Although it would be preferable to see no women smoking during pregnancy, it is pleasing to see that the proportion of women who gave birth in the ACT and smoked while pregnant was lower than the national rate (12.8 per cent compared to 16.6 percent),” Ms Gallagher said.

“The percentage of low birthweight babies - that is those less than 2,500 grams - born to ACT residents was five per cent compared to a national average of 6.2 per cent.”

The caesarean section rate for women giving birth in the ACT was 28.9 percent, also lower than the national rate of 30.9 per cent. ACT public hospitals continue to provide lower levels of caesarean births compared to public hospitals in the rest of the nation, and are considerably below the levels reported in Australian private hospitals.

In 2007, interstate residents accounted for 16.1 per cent of births in the ACT. ACT maternity services accept referrals to the Fetal Medicine Unit from the ACT and surrounding regions for high-risk pregnancies and also provide neonatology care through the Centre for Newborn Care.

29 December 2009