\n In 2025, for the first
\n time in almost 50 years, fewer than 2000 babies were born in Hawke\u2019s Bay.\n <\/p>\n
Nationwide, births have stalled and the country\u2019s fertility rate is at a record low.<\/p>\n
There were 57,705 live births during 2025, which was slightly down on 2024 and a slight increase on 2023 and 2020.<\/p>\n
Experts worldwide largely agree that a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is required to keep a country\u2019s population steady without immigration.<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s fertility rate has dropped well below the replacement rate and is now at a record low of 1.55.<\/p>\n
That rate is a path towards, if not turmoil, then at the very least some challenging societal outcomes that not even immigration can easily solve.<\/p>\n
The pressure an ageing population places on the health system is immense.<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s blanket superannuation for over-65s is another much-discussed pressure point.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that elderly taxpayers must be comfortable, cared for and looked after in their old age, but the extra dependence on the system will continue to increase tax pressure for the young.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when our best and brightest youngsters either leave for a place that doesn\u2019t feel like a retirement community, or make a decision not to have a family themselves to save money.<\/p>\n
Napier woman Tessa McCormack, 29, had a second child last year. She told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today she and her partner were strongly debating not doing it and definitely wouldn\u2019t try for a third, because of the cost of childcare and the necessity of a two-job family.<\/p>\n
At a family level, the increased proportion of elderly is not just a disaster for the young but also a disaster for those who become dependents as they age.<\/p>\n
Patterns of familial care of the elderly will only disappear further as two-job families become the norm.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear how many levers the Government can pull to turn around a declining birth rate, or if any of them will work.<\/p>\n
Further subsiding the cost of having children is obviously a possibility. Increasing the proportion of young home owners is another.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s hard to shift the political dial \u2013 as the country ages, so too does the political power shift to the elderly.<\/p>\n
In Japan, New Zealand at least has a nation it can watch and see what it will become if it just sits and waits for the grey wave to hit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2025, for the first time in almost 50 years, fewer than 2000 babies were born in Hawke\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27709,22059,13997,3278,2082,33443,185,1759,130,164253,117,111,43,139,69,4514,1128,131,223,14047,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-298367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-adults","9":"tag-babies","10":"tag-editorial","11":"tag-facts","12":"tag-for","13":"tag-heading","14":"tag-is","15":"tag-japan","16":"tag-more","17":"tag-nappies","18":"tag-new","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-same","24":"tag-sells","25":"tag-than","26":"tag-the","27":"tag-way","28":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}