摘要：
澳大利亚统计局日前公布的一份统计报告表明，该国年人口出生率创下9年来新高，这是由于该国失业率降低和经济稳定发展，越来越多的夫妇愿意生孩子的缘故。
Australia has recorded its highest annual birth
rate in nine years, with indications that couples are encouraged
by low unemployment and economic stability to have babies,
official figures showed.
澳大利亚统计局日前公布的一份统计报告表明，该国年人口出生率创下9年来新高，这是由于该国失业率降低和经济稳定发展，越来越多的夫妇愿意生孩子的缘故。
据法新社3月29日报道，2004年4月至9月的半年里，澳大利亚共有13.3万名婴儿出生，这是自1990年以来人口出生率最高的半年；2003年9月至2004年9月，澳大利亚共有25.51万名婴儿出生，创下9年来年人口出生率新高，达到平均每位妇女养育1.773个孩子。而在2000年前的30年里，平均每位妇女养育1.7个孩子。
澳大利亚联邦证券公司的经济学家克雷格·詹姆士指出，澳大利亚婴儿出生率的增加应归结于消费者信心的提升和5.1％的低失业率。他说：“澳大利亚的失业率创下近28年的新低，工资增长，信心增加。人们开始觉得，现在是组建家庭和生育小孩有保障的时候了。”
据经济合作发展组织最新的调查结果显示，在过去的30年里，该组织成员国的人口出生率有明显下降。从1990年开始，澳大利亚的人口出生率一直持续下滑，在2002年4月至9月的半年里，仅有12.5万名婴儿出生。为了提高人口出生率，澳大利亚政府已采取了一些奖励政策。如从今年7月1日开始，政府将对每名新生儿的父母奖励3000澳元（2324美元）。
目前，澳大利亚的人口总数为2016.89万。2003年9月至2004年9月，人口增加了1.2％，其中约一半是由于外来移民的增加。1998年至2003年，移居澳大利亚的人数增加最多的国家是南非（增幅7.9％），其次是印度（增幅5.8％）。
（蒋黎黎）
Australia has recorded
its highest annual birth rate in nine years, with indications that
couples are encouraged by low unemployment and economic stability
to have babies, official figures showed.
Population figures from
the Australian Bureau of Statistics released over the Easter break
showed there were 133,000 births in the six months to September
2004 -- the highest half-year total since 1990.
Over the full year to
September there were about 255,100 births, the highest annual
total in nine years, giving a fertility rate, or number of births
per woman, of 1.773 for 2003-2004.
A recent survey of OECD
countries found that fertility rates had declined significantly
over the past 30 years with an average of 1.7 births per woman in
2000.
Craig James, an economist
at CommSec, said Australia's baby boom appeared to be a result of
strong consumer confidence and an unemployment rate of just 5.1
percent.
"Unemployment is at
a 28-year low, wages are up, confidence is high," James told
Wednesday's The Australian newspaper.
"People are feeling
like it's safe to start a family again."
Australia's birth rate
had been in steady decline since 1990, dropping to a half-yearly
low of around 125,000 births during the April-September period of
2002.
Australia's conservative
government has tried to boost flagging fertility by offering
financial inducements -- including a 3,000-dollar (2,324 US
dollar) payment to parents introduced on July 1.
Australia's current
population is estimated to be 20,168,900. In the 12 months to
September 2004, the population grew 1.2 percent, about half the
increase due to immigration.
While Britain remains the
greatest source of overseas-born residents, between 1998 and 2003
the countries with the largest increase in migration to Australia
were South Africa (up 7.9 percent) and India (up 5.8 percent).
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