Summary

Nationally, the data revealed that in 2014–2016:

  • The proportion of women who reported smoking during pregnancy was 10.4%. However, there are substantial differences across Australia. In regional PHN areas 16.6% of mothers reported smoking at some point during pregnancy, compared with 7.5% in metropolitan PHN areas.
  • The infant and young child mortality rate was 3.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. Regional PHN areas reported a rate of 4.3 deaths per 1,000 live births, 1.3 times the rate for metropolitan PHN areas (3.3 per 1,000 live births).
  • The proportion of low birthweight babies was 5.0%, with little difference between regional PHN areas (5.3%) and metropolitan PHN areas (4.8%).
  • More than 6 in 10 (65%) mothers attended at least one antenatal visit in the first trimester of pregnancy.

All measures presented in the report are by PHN area. Local-level data are available for all women and their babies by Statistical Areas Level 3, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their babies by Statistical Area Level 4 in the downloadable data and on the National overview pages for each of the indicators.

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