More than 3800 new smiles, pairs of eyes and tubby little tummies were welcomed into the world in the Bay of Plenty during 2015.

New Statistics NZ data show 3878 live births and 2515 deaths were registered last year, resulting in the region growing by 1363 people – the first population increase for the Bay since 2011.

A total of 3,878 live births were registered in the Bay of Plenty in 2015. Photo: File

Compared to 2014, live births increased by 10.6 per cent (374), deaths were up by 7 per cent (165), while the total population grew by 18 per cent (209).

In total, 61,038 live births and 31,608 deaths were registered in New Zealand, resulting in the population growing by 29,430 people. Live births were up 6.6 per cent (3796) while deaths increased by 1.7 per cent (545) on 2014.

'Higher fertility rates and population growth led to more births in 2015, says population statistics manager Jo-Anne Skinner.

'The rise in births in 2015 follows decreasing birth numbers in the preceding four years.”

In 2015, women aged 30–34 years had the highest fertility rate of all age groups since 2002, with 125 births for every 1000 women – up from 119 in 2014.

This increase in the proportion of women having a baby, together with an increase in the number of women aged 30–34 years, resulted in 1,395 (8 percent) more births to women in this age group compared with 2014.

In 2015, compared with 2014, births increased in all age groups over 20 years, including women aged 25–29 years (up 1,137), 35–39 years (up 696), and 20–24 years (up 544).

But in contrast, teenage fertility rates have continued to drop in each year since 2008. In 2015, the rate for women aged 15–19 years was 19 births per 1,000 women – down from 33 in 2008.

At the time of writing New Zealand's total population was sitting at 4,665,192 people.

For more information visit the Statistics NZ website at: www.stats.govt.nz