Manukau City just keeps stacking on the numbers

Manukau City is proving to be the country's most popular place to move to, enjoying the largest population increase in the country in the past June year.

It's growth was followed by that of Auckland and Christchurch, according to Statistics New Zealand figures.

Manukau's population increased by 6700, Auckland's by 4600, and Christchurch's by 3500.

The next largest increases were: North Shore, 2800, Waitakere, 2600, Rodney District, Tauranga and Wellington, 2500 each, Hamilton, 2100, Queenstown-Lakes District 1300, Waimakariri, 1100, Franklin District, 900, and Western Bay of Plenty, Kapiti Coast, and Tasman and Selwyn Districts with 800 each.

Of the 74 territorial authority areas, 42 had population increases and 32 had population decreases.

The estimated resident population of the North Island was 3,116,100 (76 per cent of New Zealand residents), and the population of the South Island was 981,400.

The lower growth of the estimated resident population in the June 2005 year was mainly due to a drop in net external migration, which was 8600 compared with 22,000 in 2004. The natural increase (excess of births over deaths) was 28,300.

- NZPA