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New Zealand Census: the country's growing diversity


New Zealand’s population – counted at 4,669,755 in the 2018 census – is growing more and more diverse.

On April 9, Stats NZ released data from the 2018 census on ethnicity, culture, and identity.

More than a quarter of people (27.4 percent) were born overseas, according to the 2018 census. Five years before that, in the 2013 census, 25.2 percent of people were born overseas.

The census also revealed that the Asian ethnic group remained the third largest in New Zealand, after European (70.2 percent of the population) and Māori (16.5 percent of the population)

707,598 (15.1 percent) people identified with at least one Asian ethnicity.

Here, the Asia Media Centre has highlighted some recent data releases from Stats NZ, including ethnicity, country of birth and languages.

New Zealand's overseas-born population

Birthplace by country

 Asian ethnic groups

- Asia Media Centre