Report of the New South Wales Chief Health Officer, 1997

Graphic: Mothers + babies - Confinements in women under 18

Category Residence 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Number of live births NSW 1331 1414 1242 1330 1305 1388
  AUSTRALIA 4330 4186 3977 3844 3865 3890
Per cent of total confinements NSW 1.6 1.7 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.6
  AUSTRALIA 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5

Sources:ABS births, Australia, cat. no. 3301.0, ABS, Canberra. NSW Midwives Data Collection (HOIST), Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, NSW Health Department.
In 1995, there were 1,388 mothers aged less than 18 years, who had about 1.6 per cent of all live-born babies in NSW. The proportion of live-born babies to adolescent mothers has remained fairly stable since 1990.

In 1995, 146 mothers were reported to be adolescent Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, which is 8.4 per cent of all Aboriginal mothers in NSW.

The proportion of adolescent mothers varied across the NSW Health Areas: from 0.3 per cent in the Northern Sydney Area to 6.2 per cent in the Far West Area.

For more information, see: Day P, Lancaster P, Huang J, Australia’s mothers and babies 1994, AIHW Perinatal Statistics Series no. 5, National Perinatal Statistics Unit, Sydney, 1997.
Taylor L, Pym M, NSW Midwives Data Collection 1995, NSW Public Health Bulletin supplement no. 2 NSW Health Department, Sydney, 1996.
Produced by Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Public Health Division, New South Wales Health Department on 24 March 1998.