Life expectancy increases

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Embargoed until 10:45am – 19 May 2009

Life expectancy increases

A newborn girl can expect to live an average of 82.2 years and a newborn boy 78.2 years, Statistics New Zealand said today. These levels for 2006–08 represent longevity gains of 1.1 years for females and 1.9 years for males since 2000–02. Since 1975–77, life expectancy at birth has increased by 6.8 years for females and 9.2 years for males. This has resulted from reductions in death rates at all ages.

There were 64,160 live births registered in New Zealand in the March 2009 year, up 910 (1 percent) from the March 2008 year. The highest number of births registered in any March year was 65,800 in 1962. At that time New Zealand's population numbered just 2.5 million, compared with 4.3 million in 2009.

The birth rate was 2.2 births per woman in the March 2009 year, the highest rate of fertility since the March 1991 year. The current birth rate is around half the peak of 4.3 births per woman reached in 1961.

In the March 2009 year, women aged 30–34 years had the highest fertility rate (125 births per 1,000 women). In 1969, women aged 20–24 years had the highest fertility rate (213 per 1,000), almost three times their 2009 rate (79 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 1969. The median age of women giving birth to their first child was 28 years in the year ended March 2009.

Deaths registered in the March 2009 year totalled 29,150, up from 28,300 in the March 2008 year. The number of deaths has gradually increased over time due to population growth, particularly in the older ages, partly offset by longer life expectancy. Deaths are projected to continue to increase in number, surpassing 40,000 a year by 2031 and 60,000 by 2056.

Births exceeded deaths by 35,010 in the March 2009 year. Natural increase has climbed from a low of 26,670 in 2002. Auckland region contributed 45 percent of New Zealand's natural increase in 2009, with 15,610 more births than deaths.

Geoff Bascand Government Statistician 19 May 2009

Births And Deaths March 09 qtr (pdf)

"> Births And Deaths March 09 qtr – Table (xls)

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