Census reveals nearly one in five claim Māori descent

Wednesday, 29 May 2024

The first results from Census 2023 have been released. Stuff political reporter Glenn McConnell has the rundown on what it tells us about the shape of Aotearoa New Zealand.

New Zealand has become more ethnically diverse and its population is slowly ageing, according to the first results of last year’s census.

While just under 68% of people identified as being of European ethnicity, 17.8% identified as Māori, 17.3% as Asian and 8.9% as Pasifika.

The Asian population grew fastest since the 2018 census, climbing by 21.8% while the “European” population grew by only 2.6%.

Almost one in five people, or nearly a million New Zealanders, claimed Māori descent based on whakapapa, an increase of 12.5% since the previous census.

The age of the average New Zealander inched up to 38.1 years, from 37.4 years at the time of the previous census.

Auckland had the “youngest” population with its average age standing at 35.9 years, and New Zealanders living on the West Coast were the oldest, averaging 48.1 years-old.

New Zealand census data released to media. From left to right: Adele Quinn, Rachael Milicich, Rosemary Goodyear and Nikki Prins.

The rate of increase in the population has slowed since the previous census in 2018, Stats NZ said.

That was due to the combined effect of the fertility rate being “the lowest on record” and the stop on migration during the period of Covid border restrictions, principal analyst Rosemary Goodyear said.

The census recorded 4,993,923 people as being resident in the country, an increase of 6.3% from the previous census, although Stats NZ said that that would be a slight “under-count“.

Stats NZ principal analyst Adele Quin said the actual number would be more than 5 million.

Stats NZ chief executive Mark Sowden believes the census will have to change (video first published in July 2023).

It previously estimated that the population stood at 5.34 million at the end of March, but unlike the census data, that figure includes residents who were temporarily overseas, for example on holiday.

Just over three-quarters of New Zealanders lived in the North Island, but the population was growing faster in the South Island, rising by 7.3% since the 2018 census, versus the North Island growth rate of 5.9%.

The population growth rate in Auckland had more than halved to 5.4% between the two most recent censuses, while the Tasman region - which includes Golden Bay but not Nelson - was the fastest-growing region, seeing a population rise of more than 10%.

Last year’s survey was the first to ask people questions on their sexual identity and orientation, but the results of responses to those questions won’t be released until October.

The census data is based on survey forms collected between February 13 and June 30, but was augmented with data from other sources as the census response rate was only just above 88%.

Reflecting that, Stats NZ chief executive Mark Sowden has suggested the 2023 census, which cost about $314 million, will be the last to be conducted in the traditional way.

In future Stats NZ may rely mainly on data collected from other sources, asking people to fill in census forms only to fill in gaps in its knowledge.