POPULATION CENSUS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30155, 12 June 1963, Page 5

POPULATION CENSUS

Smaller Working Age Group

Latest information available from the census of New Zealand's population, which was conducted in April, 1961, shows that since 1956 the population in the working age group of 15 to 64 years has decreased from 59.4 per cent, to 58.3 per cent'., states a release by the acting-Govem-ment Statistician (Mr W. A. Butterworth).

Those in the age group of 65 years and over have decreased from 9.1 to 8.6 per cent., while the children under 15 years in 1961 comprise 33.1 per cent, of the population, compared with 31.5 per cent, in 1956. During the five years the children under 15 years increased by 115.684 (16.9 per cent), while the working age group increased by 116.150 (9.0 per cent.), and those 65 years and over by. 11,054 ( 5.6 per cent.), says Mr Butterworth. The total population in 1956 was 2.174,062, while the later census puts the total at 2,414,984. The number of persons aged more than 100 in 1956 was 35. 14 males and 21 females. In 1961 the total was again 35 with 12 males and 23 females in the three-figure group. •

A feature of a supplied table giving the numbers in 1961 in each age group is that in all the age groups of five years up to 59. except one, males outnumber females. However, from' the age of 60 to 100, females are well ahead in numbers. The only group below 59 where the females are in front is the 40 to 44 group. In 1961, male births outnumbered female births by 6000, while the number of females in the 95 to 99 group was 265 against the male total of 121.