BIRTH RATE OF NEW ZEALAND

Shannon News, 19 February 1926, Page 3

BIRTH RATE OF NEW ZEALAND

LOW RECORD IN 1919 WELL PROBABLY BE BEATEN. Full*statistics of births and deaths ' for the whole Dominion for the year 1925 are not yo.t available (states the "Monthly Abstract of Statistics"), but " figures for the fourteen urban areas, which contain approximately 50 per cent of the total population, give a good indication of the general results. The urban areas in the aggregate invariably' have a somewhat lower birth rate and somewhat higher rates of death and of infantile mortality than fhe Dominion as a whole. The birth figures for urban areas for 1925 taken in conjunction with the Domin« ion totals for the first nine months indicate that the general /birth rate will in all probability be lower even than that for the year 1919, which was hitherto been the lowest on record. The urban figures for deaths and infantile mortality, on the other hand indicate that the Dominion rates for 1925 will approximate the record established i.i 1924. Such low rates for two years in succession are remarkable. Dunedin and Wellington have again recorded exceedingly low rates of in? fantile mortality, namely, thirty-four and thirty-five per thousand births respectively, as compared with fortyeight for Christ church and fifty-one for Auckland. ' \ ' -