Bridgerton fans will remember the scene.

Lady Featherington, hopeful of a male heir to secure the family’s place in Mayfair and society, discovers the two daughters she managed to marry off have next to no idea of the process required to produce a child.

Sometimes I believe economists, and plenty of politicians, are almost as befuddled as Prudence and Philippa when it comes to the importance of demography when it comes to economic policy.

Illustration by Dionne GainCredit:

Many of the public figures debating immigration and the nation’s population seem as ignorant about babies and their source as those confused Bridgerton ladies. They also seem unaware of the issue at the other end of the demographic spectrum – death.

Last year, 187,268 Australians left this mortal coil. Outside of 2022, when COVID-related restrictions ended – leading to a spike in deaths – it was the largest number of deaths in a single year.

Since 2011, when the first Baby Boomers started to retire, deaths have climbed by almost 28 per cent – or 40,000 a year.

Figures released on Wednesday revealed that over that same time period, the number of births has fallen by 9200 or 3 per cent. The fertility rate of Australian women dropped from 1.92 in 2011 to a record low of 1.48 last year, a tumble of almost 23 per cent.

The birth-death gap in Australia is still large, but has........

© WA Today