New Zealand’s birth rate lowest on record, deaths drop in 2020 – Stats NZ media and information release: Births and deaths: Year ended December 2020 (including abridged period life table)

New Zealand’s birth rate lowest on record, deaths drop in 2020 – Media release

18 February 2021

New Zealand’s total fertility rate in 2020 was down to 1.61 births per woman, its lowest recorded level, and well below the population replacement rate of 2.1, Stats NZ said today.

This means that based on birth rates in 2020, New Zealand women would average 1.61 births over their lifetime.

“Fertility rates in New Zealand were relatively stable between 1980 and 2012, but have generally decreased since then,” population estimates and projections manager Hamish Slack said.

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