Māori Fertility, Birth and Death rates
On Tuesday Statistics NZ released data on New Zealand’s Births and Deaths: for the year ended June 2011.
Key facts identified that 18,120 or 28.9% of all live births, were babies of Māori ethnicity and 14,120 live births were registered to Māori women.
Fertility rates amongst Māori women were higher in the younger age groups compared with the total population. In the year ended June 2011, Māori women aged 20–24 years and 25–29 years had the highest fertility rates (around 150 per 1,000 women). The median age of Māori women giving birth was 26 years in the June 2011 year, compared with 30 years for the total population. The total fertility rate for Māori women was 2.78 births per woman, the rate for the total population is 2.10 births per woman.
During the June 2011 year, the number of infant deaths (under one year of age) registered in New Zealand was 310. The Māori infant mortality rate (infant deaths per 1,000 live births) was 6.8 per 1,000 while the infant mortality rate for the total population was 4.9 per 1000.
Their were 29,320 deaths registered in New Zealand in the June 2011 year. The age-standardised death rate for the Māori population was 6.3 deaths per 1,000 (mean estimated population) this was much higher than for the total population (3.8 per 1,000).