National Party leader Christopher Luxon recently encouraged New Zealanders to "have more babies" - despite being a joke - he may have a point.
With fewer babies being born, a sociologist is warning low fertility is an issue for New Zealand.
At an infrastructure conference in Christchurch on Thursday, Luxon dropped the "tongue and cheek" comments during question time.
"Here is the deal – essentially New Zealand stopped replacing itself in 2016. I encourage all of you to go out there and have more babies if you wish, that would be helpful."
He was joking but a distinguished sociologist said he has a point.
Emeritus professor at Massey University Paul Spoonley said low infertility is an issue.
"He does have a point. We dropped below replacement level very rapidly…. 2.1 births per woman is replacement level and we're now down at 1.6," Spoonley told co-host Ryan Bridge on AM.
There were 58,887 live births registered in New Zealand in 2022, only 228 (0.4 percent) more than in 2021, according to Statistics NZ. This is compared to 38,574 deaths registered in the same year, up 3642 (10.4 percent) from 2021.
Meanwhile, the age Kiwis are having children is on the rise. In 2022, the median age of women in New Zealand giving birth was 31.2 years, compared with around 25 years in the 1970s.
But it isn't just New Zealand grappling with declining fertility rates, in fact, it's happening everywhere in the high-income world.
If you look at Germany, Dr Spooley said, each year it has had more deaths than babies for the last 30 years.
By the end of the century, the United Nations projects 23 countries will see their populations halved.
Dr Spooley said women getting higher education qualifications and entering the labour market are a driving force behind declining fertility rates.
"Then things like cost come in and environment come in - and so you're choosing to stay in your job rather than come out and have children," he said.
"If you look at Millennials and Generation Z, there are three things that are happening: Some of them, many of them, are not having children, or they're having one and done, and they're having children much later in life."
With all that said, AM's Ryan Bridge had a message for Kiwis: "Get out there and do it for New Zealand."
Watch the full interview above.
