Growth of families and households projected to exceed population growth

Numbers of families and households in New Zealand are projected to increase by 23 percent and 34percent from 2006 to 2031, exceeding projected population growth of 22 percent, Statistics New Zealandsaid today.

These figures are from the latest 2006-base national family and household projections.

The faster growth in the number of families and households is due to the ageing of New Zealand'spopulation, leading to an increasing proportion of 'couple without children families' and one-personhouseholds.

These figures are from mid-range series 5B, one of six different projection series used toindicate the likely future number and type of New Zealand's families and households.The number of families is projected to increase from an estimated 1.17 million in 2006 to 1.44 million in2031.

Couple without children families will account for the majority of this growth, up from 468,000 in 2006to 730,000 in 2031.

The increasing prevalence of couple without children families is mainly due to the increasing number ofpeople born after World War II reaching the older ages (50 years and over), where they are most likely tolive as a partner in a couple without children family.

Most of these couples will have had children who haveleft the parental home. Couple without children families will overtake two-parent families to become themost common family type in 2008.

The number of households is projected to increase from 1.55 million in 2006 to 2.09 million in 2031.

Households containing one or two people are projected to account for nearly all of this growth.

Geoff BascandGovernment Statistician

8 December 2008

END