H.-81
VI
Proportion of Births Year. Marriages. 6 MarriagVsoTemnised Birttls - Id the Preceding Year. 1891 ... ... ... 3,805 17,635 464 1892 ... ... ... 4,002 17,283 454 1893 ... 4,115 17,514 437 1894 ... ... 17,824 4-33 1894 ... ... ... 4,178 1895 ... 4,110 17,711 4-24 1896 ... ... ... 4,843 17,778 132 1897 ... ... ... 4,928 17,911 370 1898 ... ... ... 5,091 18,154 3-68 1899 ... ... ... 5,461 18,006 3-54 1900 ... ... ... 5,860 18,640 341 1901 ... ... ... 6,095 19,544 334 1902 ... ... ... 6,394 19,734 3-23 1903 ... ... ... 6,748 20,835 3-26 1904 ... ... 21,737 3-22 If the average result be taken out for the ten years 1885-1894, it will be found to represent 4.80 births to a marriage. Dealing similarly with the figures for 1895-1904 the result is an average of 3.59, so that regarded annually or decennially there is a decided fall to be observed. In the Australian States a similar 'leerease is noticeable. New Zealand had in 1880 the highest birth-rate (40.78); in 1900 the case was reversed; but in 1904 the New Zealand rate was higher than that of Queensland (1903), New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The movement over ten years is calculated as under: —
Birth-rates per 1,000 of Population.
This table also shows that although New Zealand had in !900 the lowest birth-rate in Australasia, the fall was less in this colony from 1895 to 1903 than in others, while the rate in this colony for 1904 is actually slightly higher than that ten years before. A declining birth-rate is noticeable in many civilised countries, and attention has been drawn by statisticians and political economists to the serious consequences that may result. That fertility among women in New Zealand is decreasing, from whatever causes, further facts will tend to show. Taking the number of married women in New Zealand at what may be considered the childbearing ages (i.e., from 15 to 45 years, inclusive) as shown by each census since 1878, and for the same years the number of legitimate births (excluding plural) registered, the birth-rate per 1,000 married women of the above-stated ages is easily found, and is shown to be steadily declining. In 1878 the rate was 337 per 1,000, in 1896 it had fallen to 252, and in 1001 to 244; or, in other words, in 1878 one married woman of the ages specified in every three gave birth to a Ghild, while in 1901 the rate was one in four only. The figures for each census year are given below. Birth-rates (Legitimate) per 1,000 Married Women at Child-hearing Age% for each Census Year, 1878 to 1901. Number of m v , Birth-rate Married Women LeTt.mate „ ? er , \;? 00 Year (Census). between Ri, f v, a Married Women 15a, o1f g e YearS (Confinements). «*%>}*&** 1878 50,995 17,196 3372 1881 57,458 18,003 313-3 1886 ... ••• 62,704 18,532 295-5 1891 ;.. ... 63,165 17,455 276*3 1896 ... ... 69,807 17,596 252-1 1901 ... ... ••• 79,406 8BK» . 243-8 And another table is given, showing for a period of twenty years the numbers of married women at the quinquennial periods of age belonging to the full term 15 to 45 years, with the proportions thatihose numbers bear to every 100 married women living at 15-45.
State or Colony. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. ' 1899. 1900. 1901. I I 1902. 1903. ! 1904. Queensland New South Wales Victoria South Australia Western Australia Tasmania New Zealand ... 32-85 3066 28-56 30-23 26-30 30-09 26-78 30-06 28-35 27-33 28-46 22-65 28-16 26-33 29-92 28-42 26-59 26-97 25-82 27-73 25-99 28-28 27-31 27-14 27-10 25-72 26-71 24-98 25-51 29-35 30-64 26-24 25-98 25-74 25-12 30-21 27-43 25-82 25-78 31-46 28-25 25-60 28-28 27-60 25-77 25-39 30-32 28-40 26-34 27-68 ! 24-71 27-17 : 25-28 26-73 25-23 i 24-46 2465 24-85 23-43 24-89 30-09 30-27 30 34 28-95 28-61 29-59 25-89 26-61 26-94 *-* 'S - 1 ' ' < -* * *-f " ' .A.