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Table No. 9. —Showing the Percentage Distribution of Female Population of New Zealand from 1881 to 1945

The most significant feature of this table is the very great relative fall in the female population of ante-reproductive ages from 46*83 per cent, in 1881 to 24-44 per cent, in 1945, and the increase in the post-reproductive ages from 9-46 per cent, to 35-09 per cent. The fall over a long period from 1881 to 1945 in the ante-reproductive ages is so great that we are definitely on a lower child-producing level. The causes are in the past. The alarming feature is that the steep fall in the numbers in the ante-reproductive ages between 1881 and 1911 has not been reversed but a moderate fall has continued. We are now reaping the results of the early fall in greatly increased percentages in the post-reproductive ages. The stage is now set for a fall in the proportion in the reproductive ages and an increase in the birth-rate will have little effect in the short run since the damage is done. While there will be and must be a lessened relative inflow into the reproductive age-groups the ante-reproductive group could be increased fairly rapidly if women of reproductive ages decided to have larger families. The crude birth-rates as shown in Table No. 5 do not give an adequate picture of the real potentialities of the community, which, as stated earlier, is related rather to the number of women of child-bearing age. In the following table details are given both of legitimate births and of total births. Since the principal source of population increase is from married women, the number of births per 1,000 married women is shown, as well as total births per 1,000 : of all women of child-bearing age.

Table No. 10.—Table showing Legitimate and Total Births from 1878 to 1945

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Ante-reproductive Reproductive Post-reproductive Census. Ages Ages. Ages. (under 15). (15 and under 45). (45 and over). 1881 46-83 43-71 9-46 1891 .. 42-20 44-72 13-08 1896 .. 38-02 47-70 14-28 1901 34-66 50-03 15-31 1906 32-98 50-94 16-08 1911 .. 32-58 50-56 16-86 1916 32-70 48-86 18-44 1921 31-57 48-47 19-96 1926 29-94 47-73 22-33 1936 25-32 46-85 27 -83 1945 24-44 45-47 35-09

Number of Births. Birth-rate of Birth-rate per 1,000 Women 15 and under 45. 1 Year.. Legitimate Children Legitimate. Total. per 1,000 STarried Women. 1878 .. 17,341 17,770 340-0 221-3 1881 .. 18,198 18,732 315-0 194-8 1886 .. 18,697 19,299 298-2 163-7 1891 17,635 18,273 279-2 139-2 1896 .. 17,778 18,612 254-6 117-6 1901 .. 19,554 20,491 246-2 111-7 1906 .. 23,120 24,252 235-3 114-1 1911 .. 25,276 26,354 21-1-7 109-5 1916 .. 27,363 28,509 193-6 106-7 1921 .. 27,309 28,567 181-6 99-0 1926 .. 27,000 28,473 166-9 90-9 1936 .. 23,711 24,837 136-6 72-2 1941 .. * 35,100 * 96-7 1942 .. * 33,574 * 92-0 1943 .. * 30,311 * 82-6 1944 .. 33,599 * 91-2 945 .. * 37,007 * * * Not available.