The nation's fertility rate has hit a record low as the age of new parents continues to creep up and the number of babies they're having goes down.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released data sets about births across the country, showing there were 292,318 babies born in 2024, up 1.9 per cent from 2023.

However, the fertility rate, which is the number of babies born per woman, dipped to 1.481 in 2024, lower than 1.499 in 2023 and 1.795 in 2014.

The median age for mothers was 32.1 years and 33.9 years for fathers, a "slow but steady" increase since 2014.

In the past decade, the median age of mothers increased 1.2 years while fathers increased by 0.9 years, ABS head of demography Beidar Cho said.

"This shift toward older parenthood reflects broader social changes and economic

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