Plummeting numbers of bees, butterflies and other insect populations are placing world food supplies under threat, a United Nations report has warned.

Could the aging of the US population be behind all sorts of other phenomena, from anti- growth activism to the decline in business dynamism and entrepreneurship?

Davao city's reputation as one of the safest, vibrant and best-run cities in the country is drawing business people in the thousands.

Fairyland or doomsday? asked China's state-backed newswire. Sure looks like doomsday.

New Zealand is becoming a super diverse nation, but its diversity story is a stratified one - drawn along ethnic and economic lines.

Several provincial centres once labelled dying "zombie" towns have reversed the trend with their resident numbers climbing in the last year.

In just over 20 years, the combined Asian, Pacific and Maori population in Auckland is forecast to outnumber Europeans and others.

The biggest threat to Auckland's environment continues to come from its own population, according to a stocktake presented to city councillors today.

Why are toilet paper sales soaring in Japan despite a falling population?

Migrant arrivals climbed 15 percent to 115,700 in the year, while departures fell 8.1 percent to 57,400.

New research has found that only four per cent of New Zealanders agreed they felt close to people in their local area.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully has taken Shane Jones, David Shearer and Winston Peters with him for his trip to the Cook Islands, where he is holding talks.

A new motorway interchange north of Auckland opens on Wednesday, providing direct access for 10,000 Millwater residents.

The Asian rate reached 62 per 1000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2012, ahead of the European and other group on 57.

Prime Minister John Key has announced a suite of new schools which will be funded in next month's budget, catering for 4000 extra students.

Population growth, boosted by a record net migration gain, explains about half of the strong economic growth recorded last year.

Migrants are once again setting their sights on New Zealand, a new report reveals.

Auckland's economy is expanding quickly with strong immigration, employment, wage growth and tourist arrivals.

'Time to get a weedeater through here, I reckon," I said to Roscoe Webb, as I gazed across the expanse of waist-high weeds threatening to choke the old headstones at Waikumete Cemetery.

China's Environment Minister has promised to confront an environmental challenge "unprecedented in human history" after an online film exposing his country's pollution crisis went viral with more than 100 million hits in two days.

The allure of the lucky country is fading, as fewer Kiwis leave for Australia and more return - a brain gain forecast to continue this year.

Building height restrictions and NIMBY attitudes in inner Auckland are standing in the way of an response to Auckland's housing shortage, the Reserve Bank governor says.

All regions of New Zealand are expected to see an increase in population over the next 13 years, Statistics New Zealand says.

Babies are going out of fashion again as Kiwi women increasingly put work and study ahead of childbearing.

New Zealand, with a population increase of 500,000 in the past decade, is growing faster than Australia and China a new "snapshot" into Kiwi life shows.