Cost of raising children in Australia is rather massive

     August 21, 2014
     News. com.au

We hear you, the cost of raising kids is making us cry too.   



EARLIER this week, new figures were published which found raising a child in the US cost $263,000. $263,000?! Seems kind of cheap to us Australians.

It’s no wonder the Australian birthrate per woman in 2012 was 1.93, down from 2.85 in 1970, or the post-war boom years of three-plus kids. Who can afford a van full of munchkins nowadays with the rising cost of pretty much everything except technology?

The cost of having a child starts before they’re even conceived.

If you choose to go down the private health care route, there’s a 12-month waiting period for coverage on obstetrics care. Which means you will have to pay, at the very least, three months extra on your insurance premiums, and that’s only if you conceive your kid right on schedule to the day. Ditto with those prenatal vitamins you’re supposed to be taking as soon as you start trying for a baby.

The most recent thorough modelling on the cost of raising kids in Australia, released last year by AMP and The University of Canberra, found the cost of raising two kids in Australia for a family on a middle income will set you back $812,000. For a higher income family, the cost rises to $1.09 million from the time the kids are born to when they leave home, while a lower income family can get away with spending $474,000.      

We don’t even want to think about how much a dozen kids would cost.


The disparity in cost comes from assumptions that those with more money are more likely to send their children to private schools and have a higher standard of living overall. The top private schools can cost more than $30,000 each year. And that’s just for tuition.      

The study found the cost of raising two kids has increased 50 per cent from when the same research was conducted in 2007. In contrast, household incomes have only grown 25 per cent in the same period.

The average family with two kids will spend $458 a week on their children. That may seem like a lot of money (after all, how much do kids really eat) but it takes into account factors such as housing — an extra bedroom in a dwelling can cost up to $200,000, or if you’re renting $300 a week.

The highest costs depend on your income level. Low and middle income earners will spend more on transport than anything else. High income earners spend the most on education. All income groups spend a big proportion of their wages on food for their kids.

A middle income family will spend more than $100,000 on recreation costs such as sports fees. And what about all those birthday parties of your kids’ friends? You can’t just turn up with a couple of knick-knacks from the $2 shop anymore — it needs to be some vintage wooden jigsaw puzzle from that specialty toy boutique.      

Other costs included childcare, furnishings and equipment, clothing, healthcare and utilities.    

It all adds up, doesn’t it.

bogarde73 wrote on Aug 22^nd, 2014 at 10:46am:



they are stupid figures.  Somehow parents on lowish wages manage to raise their kids very well on a much, much smaller figure.  these figures always imply NEW clothes (designer of course) for every child, expensive meals 3 times a day, overseas holidays, expensive people mover cars (changed avery few years) and other drivel.  you are right bogarde, these figures are the extreme top and totally ignore budgeting or thrifty decision-making. It certainly avoids the moving of clothes and baby items around other parents

All I know is that it costs the abos and islanders in my area $0 to breed. That's the problem!

Pffft.  I probably make money off my kids when family tax benefit is taken into consideration.

longweekend58 wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2014 at 9:29am:


I was too vague - I definitely make money off them.  No slavery, but it's not even close to lineball.  We get almost $600 a fortnight in family tax benefit.  Not only that, we just got a 6 or 7 grand lump sum because we had been underpaid FTB all financial year.   

Some people would try to tell you they would easily spend that much on 2 young kids, but they're lying.

longweekend58 wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2014 at 4:34pm:


I don't, but my wife does.  But I just checked, it was only $5312 we got for being underpaid this year, but in previous years it's been 6 or 7 grand.  I deliberately overstate my income throughout the year so that the fortnightly payments are a bit lower, but when we do our tax returns, they give us a nice little bonus with which to pay the rates and go on holidays.   

Oh well.  probably better you don't know how much my life, and by extension, every other low income breeder is subsidised by the taxpayer.  But if you really do want to give yourself a heart attack, google FTB payment rates.   


If it's any consolation we're getting about $25 of your tax $$ a fortnight less than we did last financial year.  Some would curse Abbotts cold black heart for this, I just say easy come, easy go.   

Giving us welfare that we don't need doesn't make sense to me either, but all I know is that every fortnight 2 payments totalling $550 and change appear in the bank account, with a government payment ID. 

Thanks australia.