Demographer Bernard Salt says the baby boom in regional Australia could be a result of the end of drought and due to people leaving cities to start new lives.

“People in regional areas were feeling, well, the rains have come, the seasons have changed, we’ve been only lightly touched by the coronavirus, we can feel a sense of optimism in the regions,” he told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

Mr Salt also said the baby boom “did not extend back to the cities” but noted it could have come from people who had previously lived in cities who had moved.

“When you look at the age profile of people shifting out of Melbourne in particular it was 25 to 44 so that is prime childbearing age.”