General News
8 February, 2024
Best of 2023: Baby boom!
The Gilgandra shire has the second highest birth rate in the country, according to a recent report, bucking the national trend of falling birth rates.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released is 2022 report on birth rates which found nationally women are on average having fewer children, later in life.
In 2022, the national average birth rate was 1.63 births per woman, which was lower than the 2021 rate of 1.70 births per woman.
Women of the Gilgandra shire however, have bucked this trend, with the highest birth rate in all of NSW and the second highest in Australia, doubling the national birth rate, and growing the birth rate year on year.
In 2022, the Gilgandra shire had a birth rate of 3.56, an increase on the 2021 birth rate of 3.06.
Neighbouring shire, Warren followed close behind Gilgandra, with the second highest birth rate in the stateand third highest in the country. Warren shire almost doubled the national average, with a birth rate of 3.01.