Health: Birth Rates
Application of Informatics
Statistical data is critical for government decision making. New policies are (hopefully!) formulated based on the analysis of data gathered by government agencies. Demographic data, such as population distribution and birth rate, are necessary to provide direction in issues like aged care, health care, and family care. Metrics like replacement rates - the total fertility rate at which there will be sufficient children to replace the dying population - guides government policies in controlling or sustaining the nation's population.
The replacement rate of roughly 2.1 births per woman for most industrialized countries is required to maintain a country's population. Australia's replacement rate for 2007 is estimated at 1.76, below required replacement rate.
Informatics in Action
The following example charts the effect on overall birthrate of the 'baby bonus' introduced by the Australian government in 2001. You can see there was a declining trend in birth rate, starting in 1996, which bottomed out at 2001. There is a slight increase of birth rate in 2002, whihc may have been a consequence of baby bonus initiative. Nevertheless, the birth rate flattened again in 2003.
| Country or Area | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Australia | 253,834 | 251,842 | 249,616 | 248,870 | 249,636 | 246,394 | 250,988 | 250,138 |
Resources
Data
Code
- View the Python source code used to generate the chart in this example
- Download the source code [Right click and Save As]