Natural increase high despite small decrease

Births exceeded deaths by 35,160 in the December 2008 year, down 370 (1 percent) from 2007, Statistics New Zealand said today. However, the 2007 figure of 35,520 remains the highest for a December year since 1972. National population projections (2006-base) show that natural increase is likely to decline over the next 50 years. Deaths are projected to outnumber births from 2055.

There were 64,340 live births (33,100 boys and 31,240 girls) registered in New Zealand in the December 2008 year, up 300 (less than 1 percent) from 2007. The number of live births in 2008 was 1,050 less (2 percent) than the 65,390 figure registered in 1961, which was the highest for any December year. At that time New Zealand's population numbered just 2.5 million, compared with 4.3 million in 2008.

The birth rate reached 2.2 births per woman in the December 2008 year. This was the highest rate of fertility reached since 1990. The current birth rate is around half the peak of 4.3 births reached in 1961.

In the December 2008 year, women aged 30–34 years had the highest fertility rate (126 births per 1,000 women aged 30–34 years). In 1968, women aged 20–24 years had the highest fertility rate (218 per 1,000), almost three times their 2008 rate (78 per 1,000).

On average, New Zealand women now have children about five years later than their counterparts in the mid-1960s. The median age (half are younger, and half older, than this age) of New Zealand women giving birth is now 30 years, compared with 25 years in 1968. The median age of women giving birth to their first child was 28 years in the year ended December 2008.

Deaths registered in the December 2008 year totalled 29,190, up 670 (2 percent) from 2007. Deaths continue to be concentrated in the older age groups. The median age at death in the December 2008 year was 77 years for males and 83 years for females, compared with 72 for males and 78 for females in 1988. Only 5 percent of the deceased were aged under 40 years in the December 2008 year, compared with 9 percent in 1988.