WELLINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Almost a quarter of a million more couples in New Zealand are projected to be living without children by 2038, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday.
Couple-without-children families account for more than half the projected growth of all families, increasing from 513,000 in 2013 to 757,000 in 2038, Stats NZ said.
There are more couple-without-children families than other family types, it said, adding that couple-without-children families include couples with no children and couples who have children living elsewhere.
"Couples whose children have left the parental home -- the empty-nesters -- are expected to be the most significant factor in the growth of couple-without-children families," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said in a statement.
"An increasing proportion of couples who will never have children is also likely to contribute to the growing number of this group of families, but to a much lesser extent," Dolan said.
In 2013, 41 percent families were couple-without-children families, which is projected to increase to 45 percent families in 2038, Stats NZ said.
Two-parent families account for one-third of the growth of all families, and two-parent families are expected to drop to 38 percent in 2038, from 40 percent in 2013, it said.
One-parent families account for the smallest portion of growth of all families, the department said, adding that 18 percent families in 2013 are one-parent families, which is expected to decrease to 17 percent in 2038.
One-parent families with a male parent are projected to increase from 18 percent of one-parent families in 2013 to 22 percent of one-parent families in 2038, it said, adding that one-parent families can include elderly parents who are dependent on their child as well as younger parents with dependent children.
