The ongoing migration boost to Australia’s population has masked troubling social indicators – a marked decline in marriage, family formation and fertility.
There was an 18 per cent decline in women getting married in their prime child-bearing years (20-34) in the 10 years to 2016; the median age of women marrying increased from around 22 in the 1980s to 30.1 years in 2017; and the birth rate has continued its long decline to a low of 1.74 children per woman in 2017.
In part, the decli…
