Mums get older as fertility rate falls

The global financial crisis has claimed another victim — the fertility rate of WA women.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the State’s fertility rate has fallen every year since the start of the GFC in 2008.

Despite a record 32,259 babies being born in WA last year, the fertility rate — effectively the number of children born to a woman — is back to where it was in 2006.

It came after a steady pick-up in the fertility rate in the years leading up to 2008 when Perth’s housing prices peaked before the global economy fell off a cliff.

In 2008, WA’s fertility rate was 2.101.

For the first time, more than 10,000 West Australian women aged between 30 and 34 gave birth.

Candice Fleay, of Wembley, gave birth to her first child, Xavier, at 31.

She said among her mother’s group it was noticeable just how many women were in their 30s. “The thing you notice most is that people are having kids later,” she said.