A 2023 report found that Australia offers the least amount of parental leave support to parents of multiples in the OECD, with extra support costs sitting at 7 per cent.
The Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA) found that a number of lower income economies provide far more support to mothers and parents.
AMBA Director Silje Andersen-Cooke said, “We found that in comparison there were many other countries like Japan, Denmark, France, New Zealand who provided more hands-on practical support, parental leave and financial support that we don’t have”.
Andersen-Cooke told The Briefing what’s happened since the report was released:
“There’s this common misconception,” she said, “You’ve got two, they cost twice as much. But our report found that they actually cost more, up to five times more than having a singleton. And having triplets costs up to 13 times more.”
Pregnant women with multiples are also more prone to virtually every pregnancy complication; and 68% of multiples are born premature.
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