Quick facts

Population

The age distribution of the female population is expected to change markedly over the next 50 years. Statistics New Zealand’s June 2005 population estimates show that 21 percent of females are under the age of 15 years. By 2051 it is projected that this age group will have decreased to 15 percent of the female population.

The proportion of females in the group aged 20–49 is also expected to decrease, from 43 percent to 33 percent.

The youth population (people aged between 12 and 25 years) is growing ethnically more diverse than the total New Zealand population. Between 1986 and 1996, the number of young Europeans fell from 8 in 10 to fewer than 7 in 10, with increases in the number of young Māori and Pacific and Asian peoples.

Geographical distribution

People aged 12–25 are more likely to live in urban areas than the total population.

Young people are more geographically mobile than the rest of the population. Between 1991 and 1996, three-quarters of people aged 20–25 had shifted house, compared with just over half of the total population.

Language

Young Māori females were slightly more likely than young Māori males to be able to speak te reo Māori in 2001. This gender difference was apparent across all age groups. Of all Māori aged under 25, 23 percent of females compared with 20 percent of males could speak te reo Māori.

Families and households

Young people live in a wide variety of family situations, but commonly with parents or someone in a parental role. In 2001, more than 6 out of 10 young people lived with their parents, compared with almost 2 out of 10 young people who did not live with family, 1 out of 10 who lived with a partner, and less than 1 out of 10 who lived with their own children.

Young people employed full time are least likely to live with their parents. European New Zealanders are least likely to live without parents, partners or children, while Pacific peoples are most likely to do so.

Young people are less likely to be formally married than in the past. They are more likely to have children later in life but those with children are more likely to become sole parents than partnered parents.

Fertility rates for women under 30 years have generally decreased over the last few decades, particularly among those aged 20–24. Māori women, however, are more likely to have children at a younger age.

Teen pregnancy is strongly associated with detachment from school and a lack of training and paid work opportunities. New Zealand has one of the highest teenage fertility rates among comparable OECD countries, although teenage fertility rates have generally decreased over the last five years. In 1998 the rates for women aged 13–17 were 26 per 1,000 for Māori and almost 5 per 1,000 for non-Māori. In 1996 the rate for Pacific women aged 13–17 years was 17 per 1,000.

While the age of women giving birth has steadily increased, the age of those having abortions has remained relatively young. In 2001, women aged 20–24 were the most likely to have an abortion.

Paid work

More than 3 out of 10 young people work full time and 2 out of 10 work part time.

Of those young women in paid work, more than 8 out of 10 work in service industries such as sales, hospitality, social services, transport, storage and communication. Young men are twice as likely as young women to work in the primary, manufacturing and construction industries.

Young people are more likely than other age groups to be unemployed, but there are no differences in the unemployment rate between males and females. Young people make up more than 4 out of 10 unemployed people, although this group makes up just 2 out of 10 of the total population of working age.

Almost 1 in 3 Māori and Pacific young people aged 15–19 are unemployed. This is about twice the unemployment rate for European New Zealanders.

Unpaid work

Young people spend less time participating in the community such as being involved in religious, cultural and civic activities and unpaid work outside home than other age groups.

Māori spend more time in community activities and unpaid work than other groups.

Income

Average hourly earnings between young women and young men or different ethnic communities are not significantly different. In 2004, half of the people aged 15–19 earned more than $9.50 an hour, while half of those aged 20–24 years earned more than $12.70 an hour. This compares with half of all males earning more than $16.50 an hour in 2004 and half of all females earning $14.40.

Education

Today’s generation of young people are more qualified than previous generations and young women, on average, are achieving higher qualification levels in secondary education than young men.

The number of young people in tertiary education has risen by half as much since 1987. In 1996, 28 percent of females aged 16–25 held a tertiary qualification, compared with 25 percent of males in the same group. Across all age groups, 11 percent of females hold a tertiary qualification compared with 12 percent of young men.

In 2004, 73 percent of female school leavers had qualifications higher than National Certificate in Educational Achievement level one, compared with 65 percent of male school leavers. Young Māori women (50 percent) and Pacific women (67 percent) were less likely than European women (78 percent) to leave school with this level of qualification.

In 2002 one-sixth of females left school with no qualifications, compared with one fifth of male school leavers.

Females make up just over a quarter of students suspended or stood down from secondary school.

Health

In recent years the rates of suicide and motor accidents causing death and injury among young people have decreased. However, young people are more likely to die or be injured in a motor accident than other age groups.

Comparing youth rates, New Zealand has the worst female youth suicide rates in 13 OECD countries surveyed.
Young people are also over-represented in rates of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection.

However, there has been a general downward trend of teenage pregnancy in the last five years, and in 2002 the fertility rate dropped to an all-time low. Teenage mothers account for around 7 in every 100 births. A general increase in teen abortions has given New Zealand the second highest rate of teen abortions in the world.

Māori women are more likely to have children during their adolescence than other women. Between 2001 and 2003, there was about 1 birth for every 15 Māori women aged 15–19, compared with about 1 in 60 women from other ethnic groups.

More young women than young men are tobacco smokers. Just under a third of females aged 15–17 used cannabis in the last 12 months, with cannabis use and dependence less common for young women than young men.

Young people are more likely than older people to have hazardous drinking habits. Binge drinking is becoming more common among young women with 1 in 4 experiencing adverse effects from drinking.

Mortality

The leading causes of death for young people are accidents (motor vehicle and non-motor vehicle), suicide and cancer. Larger proportions of young men die from each of these causes than young women.

Young men are twice as likely as young women to die in motor accidents.

Young women commit 1 in 5 suicides, but account for 2 in 3 of non-fatal suicide attempts. Youth suicide has been decreasing in recent years, but the youth suicide rate for Māori is much higher than for other young people.

Violence against younger women

Nearly half of women aged 15–24 experience violence or property crime over the course of a year.
One in four women aged 17–24 reported experience of sexual interference or assault over the course of a year.

Four in 10 young women were hit or physically harmed by another person at least once over the course of a year.

Māori women aged 14–16 are more likely to be abused than young men or young people of different ethnicity.
Young people are more likely than other age groups to be victims of violent and property crime.

Crime

Criminal activity among women, although increasing each year, is relatively low compared with men, but young women are involved at a disproportionate rate.

A quarter of women apprehended are aged 14–16, with this age group responsible for a third of all female apprehensions for dishonesty and property damage and a quarter of property abuse.

Youth criminal apprehension rates rose in the 1990s but have remained more stable in recent years, with the apprehension rate for those aged 14–16 at an eight-year low.

Of cases brought for prosecution involving young women, less than a quarter led to a proven case.

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