Opening the Doors

Working with young parents

Definition

This section refers to young women and young men who are parents.

Demographics

There has been a steady decrease in the number of young women having children over the past three decades.

Proportion of young women who give birth each year - In 1971, 5.5% of young women aged 19 years or younger gave birth. In 2001 only 1.8% of this age group gave birth. 2

Proportion of births by young women - Birth rates vary widely across NSW. In 2002, only 0.6% of all births in Northern Sydney were to young mothers aged 12-19 years, while 14.1% of all births in the Far West were to young mothers aged 12-19 years. 18

In the Nepean area 4.8% of all births in 2002 were to young mothers aged 12-19 years. 18

Across Australia, the number of young women and young men becoming parents in 2003 was as follows: 3

Age	Number of Australian young women becoming mothers in 2003	Number of Australian young men becoming fathers in 2003
15 and under	375	62
16 years	949	168
17 years	1906	473
18 years	3001	993
19 years	4512	1688
Total number of teenagers	10,743	3,384

Around 12% of young mothers in NSW are married at the time of giving birth. NSW has the highest proportion of married young mothers in Australia. 2  

About half of all teenage births are to women who are married or living in a de facto relationship, and about half are to single mothers. 1

Young women in rural areas are more likely to become teenager mothers, and more likely to be married or in a long term de facto relationship. 21

Terminology

Acceptable words for referring to young people who are parents are young parents, young mums, young mothers, young dads, and young fathers.

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