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TASMANIAN women are having fewer children but the state continues to have the highest fertility rate in Australia, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday. In 2009, Tasmania's fertility rate - the average number of births per woman - was 2.18, slightly below the 2008 rate of 2.24. The national fertility rate was 1.90 babies a woman in 2009, down from 1.96 in 2008 and 1.92 in 2007. With the exception of Queensland, fertility rates for all states and territories decreased in 2009. The ACT recorded the lowest fertility rate of 1.74. Tasmanian women were having their children at younger ages than women in other Australian jurisdictions, with fertility rates highest for women aged 25 to 29 years. For the rest of the country, fertility rates were highest for women aged 30 to 34. The median age of all mothers for births registered in Australia in 2009 was 30.6 years, while the median age of fathers was 33 years, both slightly younger than in recent years. Tasmania had the second- highest number of teenagers giving birth in 2009, with 27.1 of every 1000 babies born to women aged 19 years and younger. In the Northern Territory that number was 48 of every 1000 births, and in Queensland it was 26.7. Of the 295,700 births registered in Australia in 2009, 6626 were registered in Tasmania. READ MORE NEW ARRIVALS: Page 75

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