Births and Deaths: December 2001 quarter
Fewer Births and More Deaths
There were fewer live births and more deaths registered during the December 2001 year compared with the December 2000
year, Statistics New Zealand reported today. About 55,800 live births were registered in New Zealand in the December
2001 year, 800 or 1 percent less than the previous year (56,600).
This is the fourth successive year that births have declined, following a slight upturn in 1997, continuing the downward
trend evident since the peak of 60,200 in 1990. This drop is largely due to a decrease in the number of women in prime
childbearing ages (20 to 34 years) and partly because fewer of these women are having children.
Annual birth rates for the December 2001 year suggest that New Zealand women average 2.01 births per woman. This is
about 4 percent below the level (2.10 births per woman) required for the population to replace itself, without
migration. However, New Zealand's fertility rate is one of the highest among the OECD countries. It is at least 10
percent higher than the fertility rate for Australia, Canada, England and Wales, France and Sweden.
The trend towards delayed parenthood is continuing. In the December 2001 year, the 25 to 29 year age group, with a
fertility rate of 115 births per 1,000 women, was the most common age group for childbearing, followed closely by the 30
to 34 age group (114 per 1,000). This represents a significant departure from the early 1970s, when early marriage and
early childbearing were the norm and the age group 20 to 24 years was the commonest age for childbearing. On average,
New Zealand women are now having children four years later than their counterparts in the early 1970s. The average age
of women giving birth is 29.5 years.
The fertility rates for almost all women fell during the December 2001 year. The drop was largest for teenagers. Their
fertility rate decreased by 2 percent from 28.8 births per 1,000 women in the December 2000 year to a new low of 28.1
per 1,000 in the December 2001 year.
Deaths registered in the December 2001 year totalled 27,800, up 4 percent on the December 2000 year (26,700). With fewer
births and a rise in the number of deaths, the natural increase of population (the excess of births over deaths) dropped
by about 1,900, from 29,900 in 2000 to 28,000 in 2001. Over the same period, the rate of natural increase fell further
from 7.8 per 1,000 mean population to 7.3 per 1,000; it was 9.6 per 1,000 in 1991.
Brian Pink Government Statistician END