New Zealand has more ethnicities than the world has countries – Media release

10 December 2013

Ethnic diversity is increasing in New Zealand. According to the latest 2013 Census results, released today, our five largest ethnic groups are New Zealand European, Māori, Chinese, Samoan, and Indian. Our smallest ethnic groups include Greenlander, Sardinian, and Latin American Creole.

Some of the biggest increases since the 2006 Census came from groups within the broader Asian category, spearheaded by the Chinese, Indian, and Filipino ethnic groups. During the seven-year period between censuses, increases in these groups were:
• Chinese – up 16 percent to 171,000 people
• Indian – up 48 percent to 155,000
• Filipino – more than doubled to 40,000.

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“It’s interesting to note that there are more ethnicities in New Zealand than there are countries in the world. What that tells us is that New Zealand is a diverse place and getting more so all the time,” General Manager 2013 Census Sarah Minson said.

Increases in the largest Pacific ethnic groups were:

• Samoan – up 10 percent to 144,000 people
• Cook Island Maori – up 7 percent to 62,000
• Tongan – up almost 20 percent to 60,000.

New Zealand’s census usually resident population grew 5 percent to 4.24 million between 2006 and 2013.

Ethnicity statistics are part of today’s release of 2013 Census totals by topic, which has information on a wide variety of subjects, including dwellings, age group, religion, industry, and occupation groups. This information contains national figures – further breakdowns, such as by age or region, will be progressively released from early 2014.

NZmoreethnicitiesmr10Dec.pdf

ENDS

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