New Zealand's population is tipped to age at a faster rate than our Australian neighbours.

Auckland's housing crisis will not be solved even if the Government's ambitious forecasts for residential construction are achieved, official documents show.

On his 60th birthday Woody Allen is supposed to have joked that "practically a third of my life is over". Optimistic maybe, but illustrative - as Patrick Nolan explains.

Asian youngsters are now more likely to suffer overcrowding and poverty-related illnesses than European children, a report has found.

New Zealand primary producers need to be prepared to do things differently in a rapidly changing world if they are to retain their place in global food markets, says KPMG.

Economists have written them off and their educated young are leaving. Still they refuse to die quietly. Some are reinventing themselves in a bid to breathe life into our zombie towns.

So without enough to do, the elected body ponders long-term planning objectives and reads a great deal of paper on subjects such as environmental sustainability.

Immigration NZ says Kim Dotcom might be deported if he has failed to disclose a dangerous driving conviction. So where could he go?

Adult nappies will soon outsell baby nappies in Japan. And according to Harvard economics professor David Bloom, that's a stark warning for NZ.

Scotland's blood flows strongly in New Zealand's veins. A high proportion of this country's colonial settlers were Scots.

After China's loosening of its one-child policy, living costs are deterring couples from having more than one child.

Did you know there are 243 Eritreans living in New Zealand and more than four in five are born overseas?

New Zealand's climb to 4.5 million people has been faster in the past year than it has in any other year in the past decade, according to estimates from Statistics NZ.

In a land where Smith, Jones and Wilson once ruled the nursery, Wang, Li and Chen are now the most common surnames for babies born in our most diverse city.

Michael Barnett writes: Two things stand out in arguments about how to fund Auckland's $2.6 billion City Rail Link, and other expensive new or upgraded infrastructure.

What would "peak population" mean for NZ? The country hasn't had to think much about depopulation before, writes Bernard Hickey.

Singapore-born Chloe Kannangara is of Irish-Dutch and Singaporean-Sinhalese descent - but considers herself to be "half Asian, half Kiwi".

Senior American scientists have been abruptly dismissed from a US Government advisory board on dangerous biological agents.

Older people in New Zealand are happy with their health. About 60 per cent in an extensive survey of the very old told researchers their health was good, very good or excellent.

Senior scientists have criticised an American university for allowing research on a pandemic strain of flu virus that escapes the human immune system.

A controversial scientist has deliberately created a pandemic strain of flu that can evade the human immune system.

More than a third of all Maori today are children, which could lead to a rise in racial intermarriage and other changes that could shape the country, a demographer says.

This winter was not a good one for farmers in the Fertile Crescent.

The Asian population could hit 800,000 in 10 years and more than two-thirds will be living in Auckland, a Chinese conference this weekend will be told.

The population gain from migration has climbed to a 13-year high as the net loss of people to Australia dwindled to just 210 last month, the lowest for at least 18 years.

This week's Budget was notable for its carefully telegraphed surpluses and the relatively moderate election sweeteners included in its slightly looser fiscal outlook, writes Bernard Hickey.

The 2013 Census contains a huge amount of fascinating information that highlights the difficulties facing businesses, particularly in the Auckland area, writes Brian Gaynor.