New figures have revealed the areas growing their populations the fastest in New Zealand as well as those who have seen very low growth or decreases in population.
Stats NZ data shows Selwyn District, near Christchurch, topped the growth charts with a 5.1% annual population increase between 2018 and 2024.
Queenstown-Lakes District was the second-fastest growing, at 3.7% a year. Data also showed little growth or population decreases in Dunedin and Wellington City.
The agency’s population data spokesperson Victoria Treliving said the new data was the best possible estimate available with figures going back to 2018 revised for accuracy.
“Census data and the coverage results from the post-enumeration survey are used to recalibrate national and subnational population estimates,” she said.
“This recalibration ensures the population estimates are the best possible measure of how many people live in communities across the country.”
The national data showed the North Island’s population grew by an average of 1.3% a year since 2018, now exceeding four million. The South Island’s population grew at a slightly faster rate of 1.4% a year, reaching 1.24 million in June 2024.
“It took just over two decades for the North Island’s population to increase from three million in late 2002 to four million in late 2023,” Treliving said.
“Over the same time, the South Island population increased by almost 300,000 people.”
Just over half of the country’s population, 54%, live in the northern four regions of the North Island – Northland, Auckland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty.
These areas accounted for 62% of growth since 2018. These regions, along with Tasman and Canterbury, were the only regions that grew faster than New Zealand as a whole.
NZ’s population growth over the past decade has been high by historical standards – with all but four of the 88 territorial and Auckland local board areas growing between 2018 and 2024.
Little or negative growth in Dunedin, Wellington
Data shows three council areas and five Auckland local board areas had growth of less than 0.2% a year, or population loss, between June 2018 and June 2024.
Wellington City had a small population decrease, dropping by 0.1% a year, between 2018 and 2024, while Dunedin City grew by an average of only 0.1% annually.
“In the last two years, Dunedin City has had more deaths than births, resulting in a natural decrease. In every year since 2018, more people moved out of Wellington City to other areas of New Zealand, than moved from those areas to Wellington,” Treliving said.
“Dunedin also experienced net losses through internal migration in two of the last six years. However, both Dunedin and Wellington gained people through international migration.”
The population of the Chatham Islands decreased by an average of 1.9% a year since 2018, or an estimated 80 people over the six years to a total population of 610 in 2024.
Across the Auckland local board areas, Waitematā, Devonport-Takapuna, and Waiheke each grew by an average of 0.1% a year between 2018 and 2024. Meanwhile, Ōrākei and Albert-Eden had average decreases of 0.1 and 0.2% a year, respectively.
The areas with the lowest or negative population growth in Auckland are predominantly areas closest to the city centre. Meanwhile, across the local board areas, Papakura was the fastest growing, at 5% a year between 2018 and 2024.
“A key driver for the small population growth or decline in Auckland areas was net migration from these areas to other parts of Auckland or elsewhere in New Zealand,” Treliving said.
The latest overall population estimate for New Zealand is 5.31 million people as at December 31 2024.
