You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The table below presents the number of children ever born to women aged 40-44 years in Australia for each year the information was collected since 1981.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
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Number of children ever born, Women aged 40–44 years
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Four or
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One
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Two
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Three
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more
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None
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child
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children
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children
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children
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year
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%
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%
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%
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%
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%
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2006
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15.9
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13.2
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38.3
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21.5
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11.0
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1996
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12.8
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11.3
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38.2
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24.6
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13.1
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1986
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9.7
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8.7
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35.6
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27.0
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18.9
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1981
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8.5
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7.6
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29.0
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27.4
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27.6
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Source: ABS Births Australia 2001, 2006 (3301.0)
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My answer:
The table illustrates the amount of children ever given birth by 40-44-year-old women in Australia each year in 25 years' time.
As can be seen, the number of women aged 40-44 years were more likely to have one child or two children or none increased over the period between 1981 and 2006 whereas the percentage of others decreased slightly.
In 1981, women at the age of 40 to 44 preferred having two kids to three kids (27,4%) and four or more kids (27,6%). In 25 years' time, the amount of women wanting to give birth ti two children increased dramatically by nearly 10%. Having the same upward trend, that wanting to have one or no children went up to 13,2% and 15,9% respectively. Still, 40-44-year-ole women having 2 kids accounted for the highest proportion from 1981 to 2006.
In contrast, the number of women in the 40-44 age group bringing up three and four or more children decreased during the years between 1981 and 2006.The percentage of those who wanted to have three children went down by about 6%. Similarly, that of those who giving birth to four or more kids plummeted from 27,6% to 11% and it was the lowest number of children ever born by women aged 40-44 years in Australia in 2006.