Research and advocacy for Australia’s demographic future
Pronatalism Australia is an Australian not-for-profit organisation focused on fertility decline, demographic sustainability, and the policies and cultural conditions that support family formation. We conduct research, contribute to public discussion, and advocate for a future in which Australians who want children are better supported in having them.
Non-partisan · Evidence-based · Future-focused
Who we are
Pronatalism Australia is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to understanding and addressing Australia’s declining fertility rate. We engage in research, writing, public discussion, and advocacy around fertility decline, demographic sustainability, family formation, and long-term social continuity.
Our approach is thoughtful, non-partisan, and evidence-oriented. We believe that demographic change is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, and that addressing it requires honest conversation, structural reform, and a renewed commitment to the conditions that allow families to form and flourish.
Why it matters
1.5
Australia’s total fertility rate, well below the 2.1 replacement level
0.52
fewer children per woman
Australia’s fertility rate fell from 2.00 in 2008 to 1.48 in 2024 — a decline of about 26%.
The numbers alone understate it. Fertility decline arrives without a flood, a fire or a crash. It shows up as absences. An empty seat in a classroom, a closed maternity ward, a playground without children.
Families thin out first
When each generation is smaller than the last, family trees grow taller and narrower. Fewer siblings, cousins and grandchildren means fewer hands at every stage of life, and care that families once absorbed shifts to institutions.
The world built for children recedes
Playgroups, junior sport, swim schools and toy shops contract as the number of children falls. Each closure makes family life harder for the parents who remain, and children less visible in everyday life.
Fewer shoulders, heavier loads
In the early 1980s Australia had more than six working-age people for every person over 65. Today it is fewer than four, heading for about two and a half, and pensions, health and aged care all rest on those narrowing shoulders.
Infrastructure outlives its users
Gas networks, power grids and water systems do not shrink when populations do. Their fixed costs fall on fewer households, and regional communities feel it first as schools consolidate and services move away.
Growth assumptions unravel
Property markets, investment returns and government debt all quietly assume a growing population. Japan shows what happens when the assumption fails, with decades of stagnation and rural houses worth less than the cost of demolishing them.
Decline compounds quietly
Smaller generations have smaller generations in turn, so momentum builds in whichever direction a population is travelling. The longer renewal is delayed, the harder it becomes, and that is the case for acting now.
None of this is inevitable
Australians say they want more children than they end up having, and the task is to remove the barriers in their way. That work belongs to no political tribe.
RESEARCH & ADVOCACY
Areas of focus
Our work spans research, writing, and public engagement across the key dimensions of Australia’s demographic challenge.
Fertility Decline
Understanding the drivers and dimensions of Australia’s falling birth rate, from structural barriers to cultural shifts in how we think about family formation.
Housing & Family Formation
Investigating the relationship between housing affordability, homeownership, and the capacity of young Australians to start and grow families.
Demographic Sustainability
Exploring what it means for a society to sustain itself across generations, including the economic, fiscal, and social consequences of prolonged population decline.
Intergenerational Continuity
Examining how societies transmit values, knowledge, and institutions across generations, and what is lost when the chain of continuity weakens.
Family-Friendly Institutions
Advocating for workplaces, childcare systems, housing markets, and public policies that are designed around the reality of raising children.
Cultural Attitudes
Exploring how cultural narratives, media, and social norms shape attitudes toward parenthood, and how a more family-affirming culture can emerge without coercion.
COMING SOON
Pronatalism for the 22nd Century
Why the Future Depends on Us Having Children
A broad, evidence-based exploration of fertility decline, demographic change, and the future of family formation in developed societies. The book reframes pronatalism as demographic stewardship and argues that rebuilding the conditions for family life is one of the great civic challenges of our time.
Written by Andrew Glover, founder of Pronatalism Australia.