Historical abortion statistics, Australia

Abortion statistics and other data--Johnston`s Archive

Historical abortion statistics, Australia

compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last updated 3 July 2022

Definition of table data (see notes after table for additional information):

Live births.
Abortions, reported includes legal reported induced abortions.
Abortions (AWR) are combined reported and estimated abortion occurrences from the Abortion Worldwide Report and working papers.
Abortions, residents, in country only includes reported abortions obtained within the country by residents only.
Abortions, residents, obtained abroad includes reported abortions by country residents obtained in other countries.
Abortions, residents, total includes reported abortions by residents, obtained both within the country and abroad.
Fetal deaths generally includes fetal deaths or stillbirths of at least 20 weeks` gestation.
Miscarriages generally includes spontaneous fetal losses/ abortions, fetal deaths, or stillbirths, regardless of gestation period.
Abortion ratio is abortions per 1000 live births.
Abortion % is abortions as percentage of pregnancies (excluding fetal deaths/miscarriages).
Abortion rate, residents is abortions by residency per 1000 women ages 15-44.
Abortion rate, occurrences (AWR) is abortion occurrences from Abortion Worldwide Report figures per 1000 women ages 15-39.

Australia regional level data also available here.

year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions, estimated	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions, estimated	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)
1931				185				185
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936				233				233
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941				125				125
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948	177,976
1949	181,261
1950	190,591
1951	193,298			36				36
1952	201,650
1953	202,235
1954	202,256
1955	207,677
1956	212,133
1957	220,358
1958	222,504
1959	226,976
1960	230,326
1961	239,986			24				24
1962	237,081
1963	235,689
1964	229,149
1965	222,854
1966	222,626
1967	229,296
1968	240,906
1969	250,176
1970	257,516	1,440		1,440	(1,440)		1,440				5.6	5.6	0.56	0.56
1971	276,362	2,519		2,519	(2,519)	18	2,537				9.2	9.1	0.91	0.90
1972	264,969	2,692		(4,200)	(2,692)		2,692				10.2	10.2	1.01	1.01
1973	247,670	2,847		(5,800)	(2,847)		2,847				11.5	11.5	1.14	1.14
1974	245,177	2,867		(7,400)	(2,867)		2,867				11.7	11.7	1.16	1.16
1975	233,012	3,000		(9,100)	(3,000)		3,000				12.9	12.9	1.27	1.27
1976	227,810	3,289		(12,100)	(3,289)		3,289				14.4	14.4	1.42	1.42
1977	226,291	3,494		(15,200)	(3,494)		3,494				15.4	15.4	1.52	1.52
1978	224,181	3,895		(18,200)	(3,895)		3,895				17.4	17.4	1.71	1.71
1979	223,129	3,880		(23,800)	(3,880)		3,880				17.4	17.4	1.71	1.71
1980	225,527	4,081		(29,400)	(4,081)		4,081				18.1	18.1	1.78	1.78
1981	235,842	4,096		(35,000)	(4,096)		4,096				17.4	17.4	1.71	1.71
1982	239,903	4,061		(40,600)	(4,061)	40	4,101				17.1	16.9	1.68	1.66
1983	242,570	4,036	(46,500)	(46,500)	(4,036)	21	4,057				16.7	191.7	1.64	16.09
1984	234,034	54,600		54,600	(54,600)	50	54,650				233.5	233.3	18.93	18.92
1985	247,348	56,371	(65,240)	(66,000)	(56,371)	35	56,406				228.0	263.8	18.57	20.87	17.9
1986	243,408	59,876	(69,296)	(70,100)	(59,876)	32	59,908				246.1	284.7	19.75	22.16	18.6	21.67
1987	243,959	60,271	(69,752)	(70,500)	(60,271)		60,271			1,087	247.1	285.9	19.81	22.23	18.3	21.53
1988	246,193	62,420	(72,240)	(73,000)	(62,420)		62,420			1,141	253.5	293.4	20.23	22.69	18.5	21.99
1989	250,853	66,414	(76,862)	(77,700)	(66,414)		66,414			1,094	264.8	306.4	20.93	23.45	19.3	23.09
1990	262,648	69,223	(80,113)	(81,000)	(69,223)		69,223			1,198	263.6	305.0	20.86	23.37	19.9	23.83
1991	257,247	70,361	(81,430)	(82,300)	(70,361)	31	70,392			1,150	273.6	316.5	21.48	24.04	20.0	24.07
1992	264,151	73,448	(85,003)	(85,900)	(73,448)	32	73,480			1,171	278.2	321.8	21.76	24.35	20.8	25.04
1993	260,229	74,395	(85,153)	(86,100)	(74,395)		74,395			939	285.9	327.2	22.23	24.65	20.8	25.09
1994	258,051	76,691	(87,965)	(88,900)	76,691	32	76,723		77,627	898	297.3	340.9	22.92	25.42	21.5	25.93
1995	256,190	77,218	(90,182)	(91,200)	77,218	24	77,242		78,237	997	301.5	352.0	23.17	26.04	21.9	26.56
1996	253,834	91,900	(89,076)	(89,800)	77,375	23	77,398		78,072	1,053	304.9	362.0	23.37	26.58	22.0	26.07
1997	251,842	75,569	(87,497)	(88,100)	75,569	21	75,590		76,216		300.1	347.4	23.09	25.78	21.0	25.48
1998	(249,283)	75,183	(86,862)	(87,500)	75,183	14	75,197		75,788		301.7	348.4	23.17	25.84	20.8	25.26
1999	(246,573)	73,392	(85,731)	(86,300)	73,392	15	73,407		74,001		297.7	347.7	22.94	25.80	20.4	24.87
2000	249,636	74,888	(86,931)	(87,600)	75,543	21	75,564		75,543		302.7	348.2	23.24	25.83	20.6	25.16
2001	246,394	76,332	(88,306)	(89,000)	77,046	14	77,060		77,046	802	312.8	358.4	23.82	26.38	20.8	25.47
2002	250,988	75,282	(86,552)	(87,200)	75,906	13	75,919		75,906	751	302.5	344.8	23.22	25.64	20.3	24.88
2003	250,518	84,500	(84,460)	(85,100)	73,623	13	73,636		73,623	759	293.9	337.3	22.72	25.22	20.0	24.23
2004	253,652	72,897		(84,300)	72,897	18	72,915		72,897	732	287.5	287.4	22.33	22.32		23.94
2005	259,177	70,153		(81,100)	70,153	13	70,166		70,153	757	270.7	270.7	21.30	21.30		22.92
2006	265,423	71,773		(83,900)	72,550	10	72,560		67,016	903	273.4	270.4	21.47	21.29		23.51
2007	284,466	71,848		(84,000)	72,638	13	72,651			1,205	255.4	252.6	20.34	20.16		23.16
2008	296,621	72,594		(83,900)	72,594	5	72,599			1,323	244.8	244.7	19.66	19.66		22.59
2009	295,738	72,300	(74,100)	(83,600)	72,300	9	72,309				244.5	250.6	19.65	20.04		22.03
2010	297,903	66,200	(73,500)	(76,500)	66,200	11	66,211				222.3	246.7	18.18	19.79		19.90
2011	301,617	62,820	(73,500)	(73,500)	62,820	8	62,828				208.3	243.7	17.24	19.59		18.96
2012	309,582	62,315	(61,700)	(72,000)	62,315	8	62,323			1,046	201.3	201.3	16.76	16.76		18.37
2013	308,065	60,532	(61,100)	(70,000)	60,532	5	60,537			1,295	196.5	198.3	16.42	16.55		17.64
2014	299,697	57,373	(63,900)	(66,300)	57,373	7	57,380			1,209	191.5	213.2	16.07	17.57		16.51
2015	306,331	54,700	(65,400)	(65,400)	54,700	8	54,708			1,146	178.6	213.5	15.15	17.59		16.10
2016	311,832	50,005	(64,200)	(64,200)	50,005	7	50,012			364	160.4	205.9	13.82	17.07		15.58
2017	309,142	47,265	(65,100)	(65,100)	47,265		47,265			365	152.9	210.6	13.26	17.40		15.55
2018	315,147	42,650	(61,400)	(61,400)	42,650	7	42,657			353	135.4	194.8	11.92	16.31		14.46
2019	306,221	40,012	(69,200)	(69,200)	40,012	9	40,021			487	130.7	226.0	11.56	18.43		16.09
2020	294,370	36,412	(63,900)	(63,900)	36,412		36,412				123.7	217.1	11.01	17.84		14.68
2021	(300,000)	37,293	(65,000)	(65,000)	37,293		37,293				124.3	216.7	11.06	17.81		14.77
2022
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions, estimated	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions, estimated	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)

Notes:

Parenthetical figures are estimates, some of which are derived from reported data.
Abortion ratios, percentages, and rates may be based on a mix of data from different sources and thus may not represent a consistent time series.

Sources:

Chan, Annabelle, and Leonie C. Sage, 2005, "Estimating Australia's abortion rates 1985-2003," Medical Journal of Australia, 182:447-452.
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Last modified 3 July 2022.
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