New Zealand census: Immigration patterns
A while ago I wrote about internal migration patterns, noting that New Zealand has surprisingly high levels in internal mobility. Yet while New Zealand communities are constantly changing as a result of people moving around their districts and the country, community profiles are also becoming increasingly diverse due to immigration patterns. The concept of increasing diversity in New Zealand is hardly novel, however some of the trends underlying this change make interesting reading, particularly when looking back over the last fifty years.
The following table presents the top five most common overseas birthplaces in the 2006 census and compares these findings with their ranking and counts 25 years prior in 1981, and again in 1956.
Birthplace | 2006 census | 1981census | 1956 census | |||
Count | Rank | Count | Rank | Count | Rank | |
England | 202,401 | 1 | 173,181 | 1 | 144,030 | 1 |
People’s Republic of China | 78,117 | 2 | 4,269 | 16 | 3,882 | 9 |
Australia | 62,742 | 3 | 43,809 | 2 | 35,916 | 3 |
Samoa | 50,649 | 4 | 24,141 | 4 | 2,994 | 11 |
India | 43,344 | 5 | 6,018 | 12 | 4,467 | 8 |
Interestingly, in the 1956 census, the second ranked country for overseas births was Scotland with 46,401 people. Fifty years later those with Scottish origins only account for 29,016 and Scotland has been the only country in the top nine most common overseas birthplaces in the 2006 census that has trended downward since 1956.
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