Wednesday, November 05, 2014

NZ Herald sends wrong message

The NZ Herald has a headline  

More childless couples in NZ

The photo accompanying it is of a young couple drinking champagne and laughing, implying more young couples are choosing to be child-free.

The photo should have been something like this:





The reason there are proportionately more couples without dependent children is the ageing population.

The clue is here:

 Marlborough was the only region where over half (53.2 per cent) of the families were couples without children, which reflected the older age structure of people in these families in this region, Mr Meech said.

Fertility rates are slightly lower than in 2006 but the total fertility rate is still 2 births per woman. High by developed world standards.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

if they choose to be child-free, in my view, it's their loss. Wait till they are old, and quite likely, lonely. and champagne no longer holds any thrill and their past looks vacuous and rather empty.

The Herald is advocating selfishness and non family values, as usual. But yes, the article is also being dishonest.

tranquil said...

"... the total fertility rate is still 2 births per woman. High by developed world standards."

I'm glad to hear that - that's *good*.
Well - it's good if most of the people having the babies are those who are not in a "certain group" (if you know what I mean....).
The group that is causing problems in Europe, the UK and all around the world, and is starting to cause problems here.

Anonymous said...

No Lindsay, what it shows is that the majority of children are born to "single" parents.

By the miracle of the virgin birth?

or rather, by the miracle of welfare.

Having kids in NZ pays only if you're a single bludging mother. No surprise then, that couples are choosing to be child-free, and so reproduction is concentrated in the lumpenproletariat welfare-dependent underclass.

Anonymous said...

I really loathe children-haters. I don't believe that most couples are choosing to be child-free. You make it sound like a curse, Anon. Maybe they are putting it off for later or perhaps some just can't have them, but would like to.

Children are a blessing, and one should not expect payment for having them!! Drink all the chardonnay you want, travel the world etc. But no kids equals no grandchildren, no family line no cuddles/joy/warm fuzzies!! lol

Anonymous said...

You make it sound like a curse, Anon.

not at all - but the figures don't lie.

The reason there are far more child-free couples is simple: because the majority of kids in NZ are now born to single parents. This is what is known as a fact.

The reason the majority of kids in NZ are now born to single parents is because welfare pays for single parents to have children. This is is also what is known as a fact.

Kevin Hague was pilloried last week for suggesting homeopathy to cure Ebola. Well anyone promoting welfare - and that's everyone from John Key, Crusher Collins, Trasher Tolley, Basher Bennet on down, even David Seymour (not to mention the full on communists like Cunliffe, Minto, Turei, Norman, etc etc) - anyone promoting welfare should be treated with the same disdain as anyone who promotes homeopathy to cure Ebola!

That they are not is the biggest sign of how broken NZ's political culture is

Anonymous said...

Actually, Anonymous at 7.19pm and 9.24pm, you are ill-informed. The most recent figures available show that of the 64,000 births in 2007, only 18 percent of the mothers were in neither a legal nor a de facto relationship; 53 percent were legally married or in a civil union, while 29 percent were in a de facto (cohabiting) relationship. https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/monitoring/children-young-indicators-wellbeing/ - Population Overview, page 14.

In addition, new census figures published on 4 November show that both the number and proportion of families with dependent children that are headed by one parent fell slightly between 2006 and 2013:

Number of sole parent families with dependent children: from 143,466 in 2006 to 142,836 in 2013

As a proportion of all families with dependent children: from 28.1 percent in 2006 to 27.4 percent in 2013.

Source: see the Excel file at this link, Table 10.
http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/qstats-families-households.aspx#

Subtract the number of families with no dependent children, and those with number of dependent children unknown, from the total families in each category, to get a count and % of families with dependent children with two parents, one parent and total.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Anon 11:54, Thank you for taking the time to point out the facts.
I didn't have the time or energy to deal with these inaccurate assertions. Unfortunately I doubt it will make any difference to the commentor.