Father figures

Father Figures: 2010 – Father's Day  –  Media Release

To celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday 5 September, Statistics New Zealand is releasing some facts of interest based on 2009 data.

• On Father's Day in 2009, about 140 men received a new baby as their present.
• The average age of fathers of new babies was 32 years in 2009, but one in 100 babies had a father aged 50 years or over.
• Today’s newborn babies have fathers who are, on average, four years older than their own fathers were when they were born.
• Fathers tend to be older than mothers, with an average age-gap of about two years. In the last decade almost three-quarters of babies born had fathers who were older than their mothers.
• Nearly 30 percent of babies born in New Zealand last year were to fathers who were not born in New Zealand themselves. One-quarter of the overseas-born fathers were born in Samoa, Tonga, or Fiji. Close to one in five were born in the United Kingdom.
• Eighty-three percent of men had face-to-face contact at least once with a family member not living with them, over a four-week period. About one-quarter of men felt they did not have enough contact with family members who do not live with them.
• Eighty-five percent of men were satisfied or very satisfied with their lives.
• New Zealand and Australia celebrate Father’s Day in September, whereas internationally a number of northern hemisphere countries celebrate it in June. 

Data sources: Birth registrations, General Social Survey.

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For media enquiries contact:
Anne Hannah
Wellington 04 931 4600
Email: info@stats.govt.nz