Facts for Mother's Day

To celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday 10 May, Statistics New Zealand is releasing some facts about mothers.

The 2006 Census showed that 86 percent of women aged in their forties had at least one child. Among these mothers, 15 percent had one child, 42 percent had two children, 26 percent had three children, and 17 percent had four or more children.

Birth registration data for 2008 shows that 63,880 mothers gave birth to 64,850 babies (33,360 boys and 31,490 girls). There are usually slightly more boys born than girls.

A total of 33,030 women became mothers for the first time in 2008, and they gave birth to 33,520 children.

The median age of all mothers giving birth in 2008 was 30 years, compared with 25 years in 1978.

The median age of first-time mothers in 2008 was 28 years.

On Mother's Day in 2008, 145 babies were born to 144 mothers. Of these mothers, 85 were first-time mothers.

A total of 953 mothers gave birth to twins or triplets in 2008, compared with 537 mothers in 1978. Twins were born to 475 first-time mothers, and another six new mothers had triplets.

In 2008, 189 mothers who gave birth to twins or triplets already had at least two other children.

Mothers having multiple births tend to be older. While just under half (49 percent) of mothers who had single births in 2008 were aged 30 or over, for multiple births this rose to almost two-thirds (61 percent).