The bar graph compares the proprotion of Australian women, from different age groups, who had first-time parenthood in the years 1966, 1986 and 2006. Overall, there has been a significant growth on the figure of older women, who became a mother for the first time, throughout the period. Notably, while the percentage of women from 25-29 and above age categories witnessed increases of varying degrees, the reverse was true for women aged 20-24 and below.
Giving first childbirth has become less popular among younger age groups. Starting at 35 % in 1966, the figure for females aged between 19 and under saw a sharp decline to 20% two decades apart and then has dropped noticeably to 10% by 2006. Similarly, 20-24 age group almost mirrored the pattern of the youngest age group. Albeit more than 60% of the women had a first baby at the beginning of the period, a dramatic reduce by 20% was observed in 1986, a figure that then continued to decrease slightly up to 30% in the final year.
In contrast, the remaining older age categories have experienced a gradual increase. The proportion of those aged between 25-29, which was around 38% at first, rose markedly to 50% in 1986, before declining to over 40% again. Furthermore, the percentages of women from both 30-34 and 35-39 age groups increased by roughly 6% from 12% and 9% respectively in the middle of the period and reached their peaks of 50% and 30% in 2006. As for the share of women aged over 40 saw a negligible rise by 2% in each given period.