The 2013 census told us a lot about who we are, and a new report by the Royal Society adds more information about the people in NZ.
To start with, our population is very diverse. Diversity is not new in New Zealand. We have been a bi-cultural country for more than 150 years with both Maori and European people. Migrants after the Second World War, were mostly European. However, things changed in the last 20 years with migration from a wide range of countries, especially Asian countries.
Now one person in four was born overseas. Auckland is the city which attracts Asians; 23% of Auckland’s population is Asian. Even more interesting, 39% of Aucklanders were born overseas. This is getting close to the 46% in Toronto, Canada, which is seen as the most diverse city in the western world. In the last three years, most immigrants have come from India, China, the Philippines or the UK.
Other regions also have had many migrants recently. Many people from the UK, Ireland and the Philippines came to Christchurch after the earthquakes to help with the rebuild. Other migrants came to work on dairy farms. Southland for instance now has nearly 3,000 Asians.
Less than 75% of people living in this country are European New Zealanders, 15% are Maori, 12% Asian and 7.4% Pasifika. The numbers don’t add up to 100% because people could list multiple ethnicities. Many people married someone of a different ethnicity. The census showed that 50% of Pasifika children under 14 were multi-ethnic whereas 90% of Pasikifa people of retirement age had a single ethnicity.
New Zealand’s population is 4.2 million not 4.4million.
For more information on our diverse population, go to Our Futures
Questions
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Why do migrants choose to come to New Zealand?
Why is Auckland so popular among Asian people and Pasifika people?
What are some of the challenges facing a country which has so much immigration?