The geographical patterns of birth seasonality in Australia

Abstract

BACKGROUND Studies have shown how births exhibit seasonal patterns, with peaks and troughs in particular months and seasons. Most of this literature focuses on national-level patterns mainly in countries of the northern hemisphere. OBJECTIVE The aim of the paper is to describe key features of contemporary birth seasonality at a subnational scale across Australia. METHODS Data on births across the year by region for the 2001‒2016 period were acquired from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. A Births Index was calculated to standardise for length of month and variations in birth numbers between regions. Choropleth maps and graphs were used to illustrate the geographical patterns. RESUL..