Indians constitute the fifth largest population with 155,000 persons and Hindi is the fourth most spoken language, according to Statistics New Zealand.
Census 2013 figures, released on December 3, placed the country’s total population at 4.24 million, up by 5% over Census 2006.
2013 Census General Manager Sarah Minson said that New Zealand Europeans continued to claim the largest share of the population, followed by people of Maori, Chinese, Samoan and Indian ethnicity.
“The population of Indians rose by 48% from 2006 Census to reach 155,000, while the number of Chinese reached 171,000 (16% increase) and the number of Filipinos, now placed at 40,000, rose by more than 100%. The population of Samoans is now 144,000 (up by 10%), while Cook Island Maori account of 62,000 (7%) and Tongans 60,000 (20%).
“It is interesting to note that there are more ethnicities in New Zealand than there are countries in the world. Census 2013 demonstrates that New Zealand is a diverse place and getting more so all the time,” she said.
Less Britons
According to an Indian Newslink analysis, New Zealand received more than 5000 people from India every year over the past five years, listing them as ‘Long Term Gain’ (LTG). India topped the list in 2011, accounting for 5800 LTG but dropped to 5100 last year on a par with China. The number of LTG from Britain has been steadily declining from 9300 in 2009 to 6800 in 2010, 5400 in 2011 and 5500 last year.
We have become more secular than before with about 45% of the population (about 1.9 million) affiliated with a Church or religion.
Fairfax NZ News said that Anglicans have taken the biggest hit, losing nearly 100,000 followers, with the flock dropping to just 459,000.
“The sharp drop means Catholicism is, for the first time, New Zealand’s most popular religion, with 492,000 devotees, down from 508,000 in 2006,” it said.
More Hindus
Hindus have emerged as ‘an important minority,’ with 89,000 people affiliated to the religion, far more than Sikhs (about 10,000 as per Census 2006) and Muslims (about 50,000 according to the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand).
Indian Newslink will carry expert analyses on various aspects of Census 2013 in our January 15, 2014 issue.
