Natural Increase And Net Migration example essay topic

320 words
Population growth is the measure of the growth of a population over time usually measured in percentages. It relies on TWO major factors: Natural Increase and Net Migration. Natural Increase is the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths that occur annually. Net Migration is the difference between the number who arrive (Immigrate) and those who leave a country (Emigrate) in a year. Usually the difference between these two is positive and a population grows. This has not always been the case in NZ.

Natural Increase has been falling. The number of births has been in decline in recent decades as people choose to have smaller families, often for financial or lifestyle reasons. The ready availability of contraception since the mid 60's and a move to have two incomes, as well as women marrying later and having children later has also impacted on the number of children being born. In the 1950's the average age of newly wed women was the early 20's by 1990 this had risen to the late 20's or early 30's. In the 1950's the first child was often born in the early 20's but this has now risen to the late 20's as well. This has seen a dramatic decrease in the proportion of children in society, as the Baby Boomer generation of the 1950's gets progressively older.

The result is that families are much smaller than in previous generations resulting in a a dip in the age-sex pyramid. New Zealand has suffered negative growth in the last decade, which would have resulted in a population decline except for substantial immigration. This is generally because of a change in Migrant laws in the 1990's which changed to a points based system which changed the face of the country. Population Studies JM Henman New House Publishers 1998.