Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Bay women delay having first child

By Cassandra Mason
Hawkes Bay Today·
20 Feb, 2014 02:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hawke's Bay mothers gave birth to 2159 babies last year, 80 fewer than 2012.

Hawke's Bay mothers gave birth to 2159 babies last year, 80 fewer than 2012.

Some Hawke's Bay women are waiting so long for the "perfect partner" they are having to get IVF treatment to have children, a local midwife says.

The 2013 births and deaths figures, released yesterday by Statistics NZ, show Hawke's Bay mothers gave birth to 2159 babies, nearly 80 fewer than the previous year.

The number of people who died in the region also dropped to 1270.

The trend towards older child-bearing across the country continued, with women aged 35 to 39 having more babies than women aged 20 to 24 for the first time, Statistics NZ said.

Women in the 30-34 age bracket had the highest fertility rate.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hawke's Bay midwife Angelika Mollman said high rates of local teenage pregnancy meant the region likely bucked the national trend.

"I am finding I'm getting some women who are leaving it later to have children [because] they're choosing their career first before they start their family. But I've also got teenage mums."

There was also an expectation women would find the "perfect" relationship before starting a family.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Our expectation of having just the right partner makes that sometimes a bit difficult."

Many older women were opting for IVF because they had waited so long it had affected their fertility, she said.

According to Statistics NZ, Kiwi mothers gave birth to 58,717 babies last year - a 4 per cent drop from 2012.

The number of deaths also fell slightly to 29,568 last year.

New Zealand's natural increase - live births minus deaths - was the lowest since 2003.

University of Otago sociologist Bryndl Hohmann-Marriott said the rise in the number of older mothers was a continuing trend.

"New Zealand actually has one of the oldest ages of first birth in the developed world."

Once considered high-risk, births in the 35-39 age bracket were now much better managed - and much more common.

Despite the slowing birth rate, the number of babies born here was still high compared with other developed nations, she said.

But a European trend towards fewer children could catch on here, Dr Hohmann-Marriott said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"In a lot of those European countries like Italy, Spain and Germany where they're having so few children, people just don't want them anymore.

"For the first time there's a huge number of people who don't want any children at all.

"It's so difficult and so expensive to have [children]."

Slowing birth rates in Europe could largely be attributed to changing lifestyle priorities and the global financial crisis, she said, with uncertainty putting more people off having kids.

New Zealand's housing shortage could also be influencing people's decision not to have children, she said.

Statistics NZ analyst Anne Howard said fluctuations in birth rates could be a "challenge" for planners and schools.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"When you look at 2008 when we had 64,343 births, and now we've got 58,717, that's quite a big difference when you start working out the numbers of teachers and class sizes," she said.

"It certainly has implications for education and service providers."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

On The Up: The paddling club of breast cancer survivors set to represent NZ on world stage

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier ice swimmer Davey Jones - what I gain when I dive into the chilly depths

04 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

04 Jul 06:00 PM

42 Havelock North homes are out of limbo after two-and-a-half years.

On The Up: The paddling club of breast cancer survivors set to represent NZ on world stage

On The Up: The paddling club of breast cancer survivors set to represent NZ on world stage

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Napier ice swimmer Davey Jones - what I gain when I dive into the chilly depths

Napier ice swimmer Davey Jones - what I gain when I dive into the chilly depths

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Trentham debacle sparks memories of another wrong turn: John Jenkins

Trentham debacle sparks memories of another wrong turn: John Jenkins

04 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP