The Restless Sex

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 529, 5 December 1928, Page 10

The Restless Sex

Women Pursue City’s Bright Lights

NEW ZEALAND girls display a tendency earlier in life than boys to drift from rural districts to the cities. In the main, rural-born men remain in the country until they reach about the age of 30, but women start the move to urban climes when they are about 1-3 years of age. This Dominion, according to recent investigations, is an ageing community, which means that the median, or middle age. is becoming higher at each succeeding census. The declining biffth-rate is partially responsible for llie increased ratio of adults.

'J'HE lure of‘the city for country people is but one interesting phase of age analysis of the New Zealand population, but it comprises an absorbing sidelight upon the geographical effect of internal migration. It is shown, for instance, that the average age of rural dwellers is less than that of the town folk. Up to certain ages the country residents predominate numerically. The male swing from outback to the. town does not show itself in any degree until the ■ age of 25 or 30 is reached, except among boys of 10 to 14 years of age, who are more numer-

ous in the cities, chiefly because of the educational facilities offered, and the accommodation provided at modern secondary schools and colleges. Of the male population of New Zealand 401,455,_0r 57.1 per cent., live in the cities, and 276,547, or 42.9 per cent., dwell in the country. With the female population, 428,510, or 57.2 per cent., live in the towns, and 226,764, or 42.8 per cent., spend their lives in the country. Women are more ready than men, however, to respond to the call of the bright lights, and as soon as the age of 15 is reached, it is noticeable that they begin to desert their cottage homes and seek adventures in city offices and shops. It does not imbue the New Zealander with any degree of enthusiasm to know that the average male is slightly older than the average fe-

[ male; nor does lie lose sleep worry- ! ing as to how this came about. Suffice it to learn that there is a disI tinct tendency toward equalisation. ! It does not concern the individual to reflect tlikt, broadly speaking, the population of the South Island is older | than that of the North Island or that Wellington, along with most cities, accommodates fewer children and old people than do the country districts. But it affects the general welfare that the steadily declining birth rate has left its mark upon the census figures in respect to age analysis. Between 1921 and 1926 the Dominion recorded an increase of 10.30 per cent, in population. The gain among those up to four years of age was less than half the normal increase rate, while children from four to ten years of age disclosed a rise of under 1 per cent. Young immigrants contributed toward swelling the totals for the age line below 20. Over the Century The total increase in population between the census of 1921 and that of 1926 was 125,556, which, omitting 2,199 whose ages were unaccounted for, are broadly divided here: Under 20 years 25,629 20-39 years 26,877 40-59 years 46,798 ■ b 60 years and upward .. 14,053 j An interesting aspect of our population is the number of centenarians whose ages are recorded in the returns. It falls to the lot of very few people to reach the advanced age of 100 years, though the attainment of this landmark in life has been a feature of the New Zealand statistics since 1874. In the main, the centenarians have ranged about two, three and four in number, though in recent years more people have been found to have crossed the century of life. 9 In 1916 there were 12; in 1921 there*were eight, and in 1926 the number rose again to 12. Our widest Man The greatest age on record in New Zealand was 116 years. It was attained by a Tahitian native resident in Dunedin, and is described by the Statistician as being “reasonably authentic.” The next highest was 109, recorded in 1911. The natural inclination of people of great age to overstate their actual years is not confined to proud family discussions, but sometimes figures in the compilation of State documents, and frequent comparisons with previous returns arc necessary to restrain this harmless exaggeration. In the 1926 census it was found that some were overstated by two, three, five , and in one case seven years. As an indication of tendencies the age statistics are useful. For a solution of the problems they raise one must direct attention to the scientists and medical men in whose hands largely lies the future of the race.