Middle East, Asian-born mums give nation big baby bump, by Rick Morton.

Immigrants from the Middle East and Asia are having more babies in Australia than other migrants and locally born mothers, propping up a flagging fertility rate that has slowed to a crawl in the past decade.

Mothers from Lebanon are doing the heavy lifting, having on average four children each, despite the fertility rate in their home country being lower than Australia’s, a fact experts have trouble explaining.

The West is living through a “cultural shift” and migrants from Europe and other nations have the lowest birth rates, dragging the total fertility rate down.

The birthrate for Australian-born mothers in Australia is 1.86, slightly above the national average of 1.84.

hat-tip Joanne