WA leads baby bounce trend

WESTERN Australia is leading the charge in the “baby bounce” phenomenon – an against-the-trend increase in the proportion of the population under one year old. In the 2005-06 State of the Regions Report, WA had four of the Top 10 “baby bounce” regions, including the top two regions nationally, and the highest growth of all states. Prepared for the Australian Local Government Association by National Economics and sponsored by Jardine Lloyd Thompson, the report found the national increase in the proportion of under-one-year-olds was the first since 1996. WA Local Government Association president Bill Mitchell said the experts recognised that a cont-rasting result for one year was not enough to say the trend had shifted, but it is certainly something to be mindful of. “What gives added weight to the result this year is that it is almost nationwide, reducing the potential for the WA figure to have been a consequence of interstate migration alone,” Cr Mitchell said. He said the report had highlighted four areas of WA in the top 10 “baby bounce” regions, including the Pilbara-Kimberley and Peel-South West regions as the top two in the nation.