Data from the 2013 census shows more Asians living in New Zealand than in the previous census. In 2013, 11.3% of the New Zealand population was Asian. This has increased since 2001 census when only 6.6% was Asian. Most Asians come here from Mainland China. The second country where Asians come from is India.
Hindi is now the 4th most common language spoken in New Zealand. English is the most common with 96.1% people saying they can hold a conversation in English about every-day things.
The percentage of Maori people in New Zealand is about the same as in the 2006 census: 14.9%. The percentage of Pacific Island people is up slightly to 7.4%.
One quarter of our population was born overseas. Most of those come from England, with China second, India third and Australia fourth.
The median age for Asians is 30.6, Pacific Islanders 22.1, Maori 23.9 and European 41.
Go to Statistics NZ to see more details.
Vocabulary
- diversity (n) – differences, many different cultures
- data (n) – statistics, numbers, information
- census (n) – a count of all the people in the country
- median (adj) – average