Fertility
Fertility rates for the year 2005 indicate that New Zealand women average 2.00 births per woman. This is marginally lower than the rate of 2.01 in 2004 and below the level required by any population to replace itself without migration (2.1 births per woman). Sub-replacement fertility is a feature of most developed countries, including France (1.9 births per woman), Australia, Denmark and Finland (1.8), England and Wales, the Netherlands, and Sweden (1.7), Canada (1.5) and Japan (1.3), but is less of an issue in the United States (2.0). The comparatively high rate in New Zealand reflects the higher fertility rates of Māori (2.62 births per woman in 2005) and Pacific women (2.94 in 2000–2002, the latest period for which Pacific fertility rates are available). In 2001, Māori and Pacific women together made up over a fifth (22 percent) of women in the reproductive ages.
Since 1985, the median age of New Zealand women giving birth has risen from 27 years to 30 years. The median age of Māori women giving birth is younger but is also increasing (from 25 years in 1996 to 26 years in 2005).
New Zealand has a relatively high rate of childbearing at young ages compared with most other developed countries. At 27.7 births per 1,000 females aged 15–19 years in 2005, the New Zealand teenage birth rate is similar to the rate in the United Kingdom (26.7 per 1,000 in 2004) but considerably lower than that of the United States (41.2 per 1,000 in 2004). However, the trend has been downward in recent years. The birth rate for women aged 15–17 years was 18.0 per 1,000 females in 1996, and 14.5 per 1,000 in 2005. The rate for young Māori is higher but has fallen faster over the same period (from 48.3 to 37.9 births per 1,000 15–17 year old females). The birth rate for Pacific females under 18 years declined from 28.2 to 22.9 per 1,000 between 1995–1997 and 2000–2002.
|
