Bar Chart-Women in Australia – First Child

Vocabulary

What do the words in bold below mean? Take some notes on a piece of paper to aid your memory:

The bar chart details when women in Australia had their first child from 1966 to 2006. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that women in the past tended to have their first child earlier in life, especially very young women. Having a child in one’s 30s became much more common, though after one’s 30s it remained relatively rare.

In 1966, 33% of women had their first child under the age of 19. This figure dropped precipitously to reach 11% by 2006. The data for women 19-24 underwent a similar drop, falling from 62% to 50% and finally 28%.

In contrast, 36% of women were 19-24 years old when they first gave birth in 1966 and this number then rose to 50% in 1986 before dropping back to just above the original figure to end the period. The largest rise occurred in the 30-34 age range which more than quadrupled (11% to 18% to 45%). This paralleled the growth for ages 34-39, nearly doubling every 20 years from 9% to 17% and lastly 30%. Finally, there was little change for women over 40 despite marginal growth from 3% to 5%.