Median age to give birth now 30

File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

The median age of women giving birth in New Zealand is now 30 years, with Gisborne producing some of our youngest mothers, figures out today show.

Close to 64,000 live births were registered in New Zealand in the year to March, down about one per cent from the previous year.

Birth rate figures compiled during the last ten years show Gisborne had the youngest median age of women giving birth (28 years), while mums in Manawatu-Wanganui, Northland, Hawke's Bay, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Southland, Waikato and the West Coast had a median age of 29.

Marlborough and Nelson's median age was in line with national figures, while Auckland, Otago, Tasman, Canterbury and Wellington produced the oldest mums with the median age of women giving birth in there, 31 years.

Population Statistics manager Denise McGregor said the regional differences in the median ages of mothers reflected the different age structures of the regional populations as well as different childbearing patterns.

The 40 - 44 age bracket showed the biggest gain of any group with 184 more babies being born to mothers in this age bracket, than in the previous year.

The 15-19 age group recorded the biggest fall in live births during the same period, with live births dropping from 5085 to 4689.

The figures show the current birth rate is 2.2 births per women, about half that of the early 1960s.

Meanwhile life expectancy for women is now 83 years, while the median age for men is 77 years.

There were 28,840 deaths registered in the year ending March, down slightly from 29,150 recorded in the March 2009 year.