Father's Day: 2005
2 September 2005
Father Figures
To acknowledge the positive role of fathers, Statistics New Zealand offers the following facts about fathers for
Father's Day on Sunday: A baby will be a Father's Day present for an estimated 140 men this year. The average age of
fathers of new babies is 33 years, but one in 100 babies has a father aged50 years or over.
Today's newborn babies have fathers who are, on average, five years older than their ownfathers were when they were
born.
Fathers with children aged under a year old manage 42 minutes less sleep than the average of8.5 hours.
Over a lifetime, fathers have seven fewer Father’s Days, on average, than mothers have Mother’s Days. This is because
men generally start parenting later in life and women have a longer life span.
More than a quarter (27 percent) of babies born in New Zealand last year were to fathers who were not themselves born in
New Zealand. This compares with 21 percent a decade ago.
Father’s Day coincides with the start of a build-up in hardware sales leading up to Christmas.
Cathryn Ashley-Jones
Acting Government Statistician
ENDS