The graph compares the age groups of women who gave birth to their first child in Australia from 1966 to 2006.
Overall, it is obvious that the highest proportion of Australian females in childbearing their first child was different in each phase, while the number of such women who were over 40 accounted for the smallest percentage throughout the period. It is also noticeable that there was a likelihood of later parenthood over time.
In 1966, women within the age bracket of 20–24 accounted for the highest proportion of giving birth to their first child, over 60%, which then saw a sharp decline, decreasing to just under 40% and 30% in the following decades, in 1986 and 2006. Similarly, there was a dramatic drop in the share of females who were 19 and under, from 35% to 10% throughout a forty-year period. Albeit increasing considerably by 1986, women within the 24–25 age group witnessed a significant decline to just above 40% in 2006.
The remaining categories of age groups showed a slight increase, with the share of women who had their first child at the ages of 35–39 amounting to about 8% and with those who were above 40 being almost 1% in 1966, which subsequently reached 30% and 5%, respectively. However, the number of women aged between 30-34 grew rapidly by approximately 5 times to 50% in 2006, comprising half of all Australian females who gave birth at the end of the given period.