Asian population growing fastest

[MotherBear]

NZ population boosted by Asian and Pacific influx
12.35pm Wednesday December 6, 2006

The Asian ethnic group is growing faster than any other in New Zealand and will eventually overtake that of Maori, census results released today show. An influx of immigrants from Asia and the Pacific Islands helped push the population to 4,027,947 on census day 2006, in March. All regions showed positive population growth since 2001, apart from Southland.

Maori had a strong population increase since 2001 (up 7.4 per cent), and with 565,329 remained the second largest ethnic group, behind Europeans.

The Asian ethnic group out-grew all others with a huge 48.9 per cent increase, putting its population at 354,552. At that rate it was predicted to pass Maori within 20 years. Growth in the Pacific Island population was also strong rising 14.7 per cent, pushing the population of that group to 265,974.

Europeans now make up 67.6 per cent of the population, followed by Maori (14.6 per cent). Those who identified themselves as "New Zealanders" - a new option on Census forms - made up 11.1 per cent of the population, followed by Asians (9.2 per cent) and Pacific Islanders (6.9 per cent).

Auckland had the strongest population growth (12.4 per cent), while Canterbury also showed strong growth (8.4 per cent).

Census results also showed the population was continuing to get older, with the median age now close to 36 as opposed to 35 in 2001 and 33 in 1996. Those aged over 65 made up 12.5 per cent of the population, which compared to 4.6 per cent a century ago, and 9.1 per cent 50 years ago.

The privately occupied dwelling count increased significantly from 1,359,843 in 2001 to 1,471,746, with two thirds of those dwellings either owned by the householders or by family trusts.

The number of New Zealanders born in Britain remained steady at 6.6 per cent, a figure fast being caught up with by those born in Asia (6.5 per cent).

- NZPA

[MotherBear]

Just call me a New Zealander
Thursday December 7, 2006
By Derek Cheng

More than 400,000 people identify themselves as ethnic "New Zealanders" and the number of New Zealand Europeans has fallen by almost half a million, census figures show. But Statistics New Zealand says the five-fold increase in those calling themselves New Zealanders in this year's census does not confuse the snapshot of New Zealand's multi-racial make-up.

The number of "Europeans" was 80 per cent in the 2001 census; the figures issued yesterday showed it was now 67 per cent.

Statistics New Zealand social conditions manager Paul Brown said that didn't equate to fewer white faces on New Zealand streets. Most of the 11 per cent of people who wrote down "New Zealander" as their ethnic group would have been classed as Europeans in the previous census, he said.

He denied that the inclusion of "New Zealander" as an official group clouded the country's true ethnic make-up. "If anything, it doesn't tell us less, but more, in terms of the way we define ethnicity and seeing the significant emerging groups." He said people answered the question of ethnicity as they saw fit, and it was Statistic NZ's job to recognise patterns.

Professor Paul Spoonley, Massey University regional director of humanities and social sciences, said the statistics have become "meaningless", as they give no indication of the ethnicity of the 400,000 who have answered 'New Zealander'. Not knowing the ethnicity of those 400,000 people also leaves question marks over the size of the other ethnic groups identified in the census, he said.

Other figures confirmed the changing face of a multi-cultural country, as migration in the past five years played a prominent role in population growth.

Those who identified with an ethnic group from Asia remained the fastest growing group in the country.

In the Auckland region, where a population growth rate of 12.4 per cent topped the rest of the country, Asian people made up 17 per cent of the population - out-numbering Pacific people (14 per cent) for the first time. One in four people in Auckland city is Asian.

Other findings from the census, held on March 7, include:

* New Zealand's population is 4.03 million, a 7.8 per cent increase on 2001.

* Ethnic groups included European (67.6 per cent), Maori (14.6), New Zealander (11.1), Asian (9.2) and Pacific Islander (6.9).

* The proportion of people born overseas increased to 23 per cent. Almost as many were born in Asia as in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

* Seventy-six per cent of New Zealanders live in the North Island, and 32 per cent are in Auckland.

* Forty per cent of people aged 15 and over had a post-school qualification.

* The country's median age is 36.

* The median income is $24,400.

Statistics New Zealand principal demographer Mansoor Khawaja said the census results show New Zealanders were getting older, wealthier and more educated, but were marrying later, and having smaller families later in life.

Seventy-five per cent of households had access to cellphones, and 60 per cent to the internet, up from 37 per cent in 2001. Women aged 25-39 still greatly outnumbered men, but the gap was closing.

[MotherBear]

Asians are fastest growing ethnic group in NZ
NZPA | Friday, 20 April 2007

Asians are New Zealand's fastest growing ethnic group, census figures show.

Statistics New Zealand yesterday released a Culture and Identity report analysing data from last year's census.

If found Europeans remained New Zealand's largest ethnic group, comprising 67.6 per cent of the population.

Maori were second on 14.6 per cent and Asian third on 9.2 per cent. Pacific Island peoples made up 6.9 per cent.

Among the groups, Asian people were the fastest growing ethnicity, with their numbers rising 50 per cent from 238,000 to 354,000 between 2001 and 2006.
Pacific Island peoples had the second largest growth at 14.7 per cent.

Both groups far outstripped New Zealand's overall 7.8 per cent population growth in the same period.

Stats NZ puts the current population at 4,181,060.

Among Asians, the biggest group remained Chinese with 148,000 in New Zealand, but Indians, whose numbers grew by 68 per cent between 2001 and 2006 were closing in on 105,000.

Two-thirds of the Asian population lived in Auckland.

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