The bar chart depicts the age of Australian women, divided to six range of age groups, when they gave birth to their first child across the years 1966, 1986, and 2006.
Overall, having the first birth in the young age groups were initially more popular. However, this trend was reversed, in which the women preferred to have their first child in the middle ages. The women from the oldest group remained the least proportions over all periods.
In 1966, over 60% of women aged 19-24 had their first child. This figure dropped significantly to 35% in 1986, and continued to fall to around 28% in 2006. Similar pattern was seen in the group of under 19, which initially accounted for 34%, it fell gradually to over 10% by 2006. Conversely, the proportion of women having their first child in the age of 25-30 climbed from 35% in 1966 and peaked at 50% in 1986 before falling to approximately 38% by the final year.
On the other hand, 12% of the women aged 30-34 preferred to have their first kid in 1966. However, its popularity showed a considerable increase, reaching 18% in 1986, it then peaked to 44%, becoming the most preferable option among the women in 2006. Another group from the middle ages (34-39) also presented an upward trend, started at 8% in 1966, it rose more than threefold by the final year. While the oldest group (over 40) remained relatively the most uncommon choice, between only 2% and 4%, across the years.