Australia's mini-baby boom booming

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SYDNEY, March 29 (UPI) -- Australia's mini baby-boom is continuing to boom with more than 133,000 babies born in the six months to September of last year, a report said Tuesday.

For the past two consecutive quarters, some 67,000 babies were born in Australia, resulting in about 255,000 births over the past year, the largest 12-month total in nine years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

"Unemployment is at a 28-year low, wages are up, confidence is high," said Commerce Secretary economist Craig James told the Australian. "People are feeling like it's safe to start a family again."

Demographer Peter McDonald told the Australian last December, the turnaround in Australia's fertility rate is mainly being sustained by women in their mid to late 30s.