Almost one in three NZers now live in Auckland

3.00pm

More and more New Zealanders are becoming city slickers -- and almost one in three are now Aucklanders, according to the latest figures released by Statistics New Zealand.

In the year to June 30, the combined population of New Zealand's cities grew by 53,900, or 2.4 per cent, to reach 2,304,700.

In comparison, the combined population of those outside the cities increased by 16,600 or 1 per cent, to reach 1,703,700.

Cities are now home to 57.5 per cent of all New Zealanders, compared with 56.8 per cent in 2001.

The Auckland region continued to outstrip the rest of the country in terms of growth, welcoming 39,300 new residents.

This represented an increase of 3.1 per cent, boosting Auckland's population to 1,291,000.

About 32 per cent of all New Zealanders now live in Auckland.

Three other regions experienced an estimated population growth equal to or exceeding the national average of 1.8 per cent: Tasman (2.7 per cent), Nelson (2.1 per cent) and Canterbury (1.8 per cent).

The Gisborne region had no growth and the West Coast had a decrease of 0.3 per cent.

Net external immigration continued to increase at a faster rate than the birth rate.

During the year, natural increase and net external immigration were 27,900 and 42,500 respectively, compared with 25,800 and 32,800 in 2002.

All 15 cities and 34 of the 58 districts outside the cities grew.

Auckland City recorded the largest increase (13,700) followed by followed by Manukau City (10,200), Christchurch City (6800), North Shore City (6100), Waitakere City (4900), Wellington City (4500), and Rodney District and Hamilton City (both 3000).

Other areas to show significant growth were Tauranga, Queenstown-Lakes, Tasman and Franklin Districts, and Palmerston North City, which recorded population increases ranging between 1200 and 2900.

- NZPA


Statistics NZ commentary