Fertility and family policy in Australia

• Matthew Gray, Lixia Qu, Ruth Weston
• Australian Institute of Family Studies

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10 October 2007The fertility rate in Australia, like almost all OECD countries, is below the level required for population replacement.

This paper provides an overview of trends in fertility in Australia and the potential implications of these trends. The fertility rate in Australia, like almost all OECD countries, is below the level required for population replacement. This has resulted in an increasingly active debate surrounding possible reasons behind the fall, future likely trends and a realistic strategy to stem it.

The various explanations that have been provided for fertility trends are discussed and key family policies are discussed. A number of explanations for the decline in fertility in developed countries have been proposed yet the topic remains hotly debated. There is growing evidence that a range of factors are related to fertility rates, although there does remain uncertainty as to which factors are most important in explaining the declines in fertility. While studies have produced differing results there does seem to be growing evidence that social and economic policies do have an important role in stemming the declines in fertility rates.