WHEN Waverley's Payton and Jett Phillips arrived into the world in the final hours of 2013, they helped double the number of twins born in Tasmania last year over the previous year.
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However, the number of births in the state overall (6049) continued to decline, down 1.9 per cent on 2012, and 7.2 per cent in five years.
According to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday, Launceston remained Tasmania's baby-making capital last year, with 816 babies born from the municipality.
Glenorchy came a distant second with 653 babies born, followed by Clarence (634), Hobart (523), Kingborough (396) and Devonport (304).
The ABS said that Tasmania's birth rate (2.06) was, like Australia's birth rate, at its lowest since 2006.
But a spokeswoman said the trend among older mothers aged between 40 and 44 years was reversed, and their fertility rate nationally has continued to increase since its lowest point in the mid-1970s.
In Tasmania, 231 mothers of new babies were aged between 40 and 49, an increase of more than 30 per cent in 10 years.
There were 705 fathers aged between 40 and 49, an increase of 19 per cent in 10 years, and 81 fathers aged over 50.
The number of teenage parents has decreased, with 348 mothers and 155 fathers aged between 15 and 19, a total drop of 12.2 per cent in 10 years.
