Bay of Plenty township of Kawerau. Photo / Alan Gibson
Bay of Plenty township of Kawerau. Photo / Alan Gibson
Highest growth for 12 years lifts nation’s population near 4.6 million.
Several provincial centres once labelled dying "zombie" towns have reversed the trend with their resident numbers climbing in the last year.
But four other areas - Opotiki, Wairoa, Stratford and Buller - have shrunk in the last 12 months, recording population declines.
Auckland remains the largest and fastest-growing region in the country, according to provisional population estimates released by Statistics New Zealand yesterday.
Overall the country had its highest rate of growth since 2003 - at 1.9 per cent - and now boasts 4,596,700 people.
Whanganui had something to smile about after gaining back the 200 residents it lost in 2014, and later being labelled a zombie town in a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report.
Wairoa posted a population decline but can lay claim to having the highest proportion of children aged 0 to 14.
Fifteen of the country's 16 regions experienced higher population growth in the year to June, with the West Coast the only region recording a decline.
In Auckland, Waitemata is estimated to have grown a whopping 9.7 per cent - or 8300 people - something Ray White auctioneer Wayne Maguire puts down to the completion of several big apartment projects.
The number of apartment buildings being built in the area had been "constant and ongoing and there's been no let up in demand for them".
Kawerau, Wanganui, Tararua, Grey and Gore districts all reversed last year's population losses.
Kawerau mayor Malcolm Campbell accepted the town's industries had been dealt several blows in recent years, but he expected Kawerau to grow from now on.
"It's only small numbers... but gee it's a lot better than going the other way.
"We've got to be realistic about it, newsprint is a dying industry so our mills are working a lot smarter as to looking at their future and there has been a big expansion in tissue."
The boom in the kiwifruit industry had also helped.
" Most of the people that live here are either retired or working out in the kiwifruit industry which is out of my district."
Whanganui mayor Annette Main said the population reversal in her patch indicated things were starting to change on the back of changing perceptions about the city.
"It's a positive, it may be small but this is a problem that's affecting all of regional New Zealand and to be able to claw back some of that loss is a real positive thing for us."
Wairoa District Council acting chief executive Helen Montgomery said people had moved there because of the lifestyle and affordability.
Roger Matthews says Wairoa is showing signs of new life.
Auckland man Roger Matthews moved to Wairoa with a mission to turn the town's fortunes around.
He's the district council's transformation manager and says the town is already showing signs of rejuvenation.
"When I moved into town 18 months ago I had the pick of houses to rent. [For] someone moving into town now, rental accommodation has just vanished, there is none."
The local district health board had experienced a spike in people registering for health care and primary schools had seen rolls rise.
That coincides with Statistics New Zealand's latest data that reveals Wairoa has the highest proportion of children aged 0 to 14.
However, overall the town had experienced its second year of population decline - although it had eased from 1.3 per cent in 2014 to 0.2 per cent (20 people) in the year to June.
"We had some suspicions that our population numbers had turned around because there was quite a buzz around town and the feeling was quite positive."
Mr Matthews said Wairoa had secured Auckland-based company Rocket Lab as an additional satellite launch base on the Wairoa-Mahia peninsula, which would create up to 50 full-time jobs.
He hoped the new development would finally shake the town's gang image from the 1990s.
Mr Matthews previously worked at the North Shore City Council and Unitec.
His family remain in Auckland, where his children are in school, but they visit during the holidays.
