KEY POINTS:
Couples without children are expected to become New Zealand's most common family type this year.
The projection was made in figures released today by Statistics New Zealand families and households growth.
"The increasing prevalence of couples without children families is mainly due to the increasing number of people born after World War 2 reaching 50 years and over, where they are most likely to live as a partner in a couple without children family," said Government Statistician Geoff Bascand.
"Most of these couples will have had children who have left the parental home," he said.
"Couple without children families will overtake two-parent families to become the most common family type in 2008."
Numbers of families and households in New Zealand were projected to increase by 23 per cent and 34 per cent from 2006 to 2031, exceeding projected population growth of 22 per cent.
The figures were from the latest 2006-base national family and household projections.
The faster growth in the number of families and households was due to the ageing of the population, leading to an increasing proportion of couple without children families and one-person households.
Statistics New Zealand said the number of families was projected to increase from an estimated 1.17 million in 2006 to 1.44 million in 2031.
Couple without children families would account for the majority of this growth, up from 468,000 in 2006 to 730,000 in 2031.
The number of households was projected to increase from 1.55 million in 2006 to 2.09 million in 2031.
Mr Bascand said households containing one or two people were projected to account for nearly all of this growth.
- NZPA
