Regional towns and Perth’s outer suburbs are propping up WA’s birth rate and helping the State remain the most fertile in Australia.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released births figures for 2017 revealing fertility rates across the country, down to a local government level.

The national total fertility rate — the average number of births per woman in her lifetime — fell from 1.99 in 2007 to 1.74 a decade later.

WA’s rate fell from 1.99 to 1.825 in the same period, leaving it third behind only the Northern Territory (1.91) and the ACT (1.83).

Rates were down in every mainland State or Territory — except for the ACT where our politicians and public servants helped buck the trend.

The “bonking ban” introduced to Federal Parliament by Malcolm Turnbull early last year might bring the ACT back to the pack in the next set of data.

Wyndham-East Kimberley was WA’s most fertile shire, with a rate of 2.95. The top five were all regional, from Halls Creek in the north-east to Kojonup in the South West.

Camera Icon Laura Priest with Archie McKenna, 9 months, Fiona Baines with Lily Hamilton, 11 weeks, Lauren McSwain with Jack McSwain, 5 months, Barbra Camp with Stewart Camp, 1 year, Catherine McKay with Fred McKay, 3 years. Credit: Elise Van Aken/The Kimberley Echo

In Perth, the City of Armadale was No.1 on 2.34, followed bySerpentine-Jarrahdale (2.23) and Kwinana (2.20).

Four leafy western suburbs shires — Cottesloe, Claremont, Nedlands and Peppermint Grove — were among seven where rates increased in 2017.

The City of Perth recorded WA’s lowest rate of just 0.88.

ABS demographer Andrew Howe said it was typical for numbers to fall closer to the CBD in a capital city.

“Employment is a key reason for living in those inner city regions,” Mr Howe said.

“The traditional pattern is as couples start having families they move out to the outer suburbs.”

The 2017 figures continued a long-term trend of Australians having children later in life.

In the past 30 years, fertility rates have trebled for ages 35 to 39 while teenage rates have almost halved.