The survival of Indigenous peoples in the CANZUS states of Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United States is nothing short of remarkable. Not only have Indigenous peoples thwarted colonial tropes of the vanishing native but, for decades, Indigenous population growth rates have significantly outpaced those of the dominant settler populations. The future survival of Indigenous peoples fundamentally rests on continued natural increase, and understanding the causes and consequences of fertility behaviour is critical. While total fertility rates for Indigenous women in CANZUS countries are relatively low, childbearing tends to be concentrated at younger ages in contrast to the dominant white populations. The fertility transitions of both settler and Indigenous populations in the CANZUS states are well documented, however, a significant gap remains: how cultural factors shape contemporary Indigenous fertility behaviours. Using Aotearoa as a case study, we explore the relationship between Māori cultural identity, birth timing, and the duration of birth intervals. We use the 1995 New Zealand Women: Family, Employment and Education survey data to further test the impact of cultural identity on birth transition rates using the piecewise exponential model and Kaplan-Meier estimates. We find that women who identify Mainly Māori (exclusively or primarily) are at greater risk of bearing much earlier to first birth but not necessarily subsequent births. However, because of the earlier start, Māori have a longer reproductive window to bear more children, and at higher birth orders still bear earlier than non-Māori. The empirical evidence strengthens our case to suggest that cultural orientation has some influence on Indigenous fertility and contributes to the development of Indigenous-centred theories of fertility and demography more broadly.

加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰和美国等加澳新州的原住民的生存状况堪称非凡。土著人民不仅挫败了消失的土著人的殖民比喻，而且几十年来，土著人口的增长率大大超过了占主导地位的定居者人口的增长率。原住民未来的生存从根本上取决于持续的自然增长，了解生育行为的原因和后果至关重要。虽然加澳新国家土著妇女的总生育率相对较低，但与占主导地位的白人相比，生育往往集中在较年轻的年龄。加澳新州定居者和土著居民的生育率转变都有据可查，然而，仍然存在一个重大差距：文化因素如何影响当代土著生育行为。我们以新西兰为例，探讨了毛利文化认同、出生时间和出生间隔持续时间之间的关系。我们使用 1995 年新西兰妇女：家庭、就业和教育调查数据，利用分段指数模型和 Kaplan-Meier 估计进一步检验文化认同对出生转变率的影响。我们发现，主要是 毛利人（完全或主要）的女性生育第一胎的风险更大，但不一定是后续生育的风险更大。然而，由于开始时间较早，毛利人的生育窗口较长，可以生育更多的孩子，而且出生顺序较高的毛利人仍比非毛利人生育更早。经验证据强化了我们的观点，表明文化取向对原住民生育率有一定影响，并有助于更广泛地发展以原住民为中心的生育率和人口学理论。