Fertility rate in Australia

The fertility rate represents the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and experience the birth patterns currently observed at each age. Rather than tracking a specific group of women over several decades, this indicator combines the birth rates of all reproductive age groups (typically ages 15-49) into a single "snapshot".
As a primary driver of demographic change, this rate dictates the future labor supply and population stability. A level of approximately 2.1 births per woman is considered the replacement threshold. Sustained rates below this mark signal an accelerating shift toward population aging and a shrinking workforce.