MPs older and more qualified

Members of the new Parliament are older and more qualified, according to analysis by Government relations specialists Saunders Unsworth.

The average age of MPs in the 47th Parliament will be 50, compared with 48.6 last term and 47 for the 1996 intake.

New Zealand First MP Jim Peters is the oldest. He will be 65 next month.

Labour's Darren Hughes is the youngest at 24.

The oldest caucus is the two-member Progressive Coalition, averaging 58 years, while the youngest is National, at 47.

The analysis shows that the new MPs are the best qualified yet, with 83 per cent having a tertiary qualification - defined as a diploma or trade certificate completed after high school. Of those, 64 per cent have a degree.

The Green Party has the most MPs with degrees at 88 per cent and NZ First the least at 46 per cent.

The number of women is unchanged at 29 per cent but ethnicity has altered: Maori MPs are up three to 18, Asian MPs up two to three and Pacific Islanders down one to three.

Fifteen per cent of the MPs were born overseas, 65 per cent were born in the North Island and 20 per cent in the South Island.

- NZPA

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