Census Results Reflect Aotearoa New Zealand's Diversity

Aotearoa New Zealand continues to become more culturally diverse, according to 2023 Census data released by Stats NZ today.

The 2023 Census showed that people living in Aotearoa New Zealand identified with a wide range of ethnicities - and spoke over 150 languages. Additionally, while most of the population were born here, New Zealand was also home to people born in a diverse range of countries.

"Just under 30 percent of New Zealanders were born overseas, and the census recorded well over 200 different birthplaces," deputy government statistician and deputy chief executive insights and statistics Rachael Milicich said.

"Pretty much every part of the world is represented here, from people born in Iceland in the north, to Argentina in the south."

Of the census usually resident population count, 3.5 million people were born in New Zealand and 1.4 million were born overseas.

People born in England made up 4.2 percent of the population, followed by China and India at 2.9 percent respectively. Of those born overseas, the Philippines had the largest numerical increase between 2018 and 2023, growing by 31,632 people (a 46.8 percent increase), see table 1.

Over 200,000 New Zealanders speak te reo Māori

After English, the most widely spoken language in Aotearoa New Zealand was te reo Māori. There were 213,849 te reo Māori speakers in 2023, up from 185,955 in 2018. This was an increase of 27,894 people (15.0 percent) since the 2018 Census.

The census question about which languages are spoken asks whether people can have a conversation about a lot of everyday things. In 2023, 4.3 percent of people said they could have a conversation in te reo Māori.

"Census data is important for understanding changes in Aotearoa. An example of this is the ongoing increased use of te reo Māori, which is an official language of New Zealand," Milicich said.

The Gisborne and Northland regions had the highest proportion of te reo Māori speakers, at 16.9 percent and 10.1 percent respectively. These regions also had the largest proportions of Māori ethnic populations, at 54.8 and 37.4 percent respectively.

New Zealand's other official language, New Zealand sign language, had nearly 25,000 users. This is an increase of almost 1,700 users (1,692 people or 7.4 percent) since the 2018 Census.

Panjabi, Tagalog, and Afrikaans are fast growing languages

Among the most widely spoken languages, the growth between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses was fastest for Panjabi, which is spoken in India and Pakistan (up 45.1 percent or 15,429 people), Tagalog, a Filipino language (up 37.5 percent or 16,239 people), and Afrikaans (up 32.7 percent or 12,075 people).

Note that in the graph above, Northern Chinese, the fourth most widely spoken language, includes Mandarin; Yue includes Cantonese; while responses of Chinese are included in the Sinitic (not further defined) category. Also note that the category 'None (e.g. too young to talk)' is excluded from the graph.

Increasing ethnic diversity of New Zealanders

All of New Zealand's major ethnic groups (level 1) increased in population between 2018 and 2023, except for the 'Other ethnic group' (largely comprised of 'New Zealander' responses). Because of their faster growth, the Māori, Asian, Pacific, and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African populations all increased their share of the census usually resident population count.

2023 Census population counts (by ethnic group, age, and Māori descent) and dwelling counts has more detail about these populations and where they are located.

"Today's release of census data gives more detail and understanding of the richness of ethnic diversity within New Zealand and how it is changing over time," Milicich said.

"For example, the number of people identifying as Filipino increased by over 35,000 people between 2018 and 2023."

Table 2 shows the 10 largest ethnic groups in the 2023 Census.

Auckland is the most diverse region while Gisborne has the highest proportion of Māori

Auckland continued to be the most ethnically diverse region. While half the population have a European ethnicity, it was the region with the highest proportion of people with Asian ethnicities (31.3 percent compared with 17.3 percent nationally) and Pacific ethnicities (16.6 percent compared with 8.9 percent nationally).

Auckland was also home to almost three-quarters of the Tongan and Niuean populations (74.1 and 73.1 percent respectively) and 70 percent of the Korean and Chinese populations (at 70.0 and 69.7 percent).

Wellington was home to almost half of the Tokelauan population (47.6 percent) and 40.4 percent of the Greek population.

The proportion of people who identified as Māori varied considerably by region. The Māori ethnic population (17.8 percent of the census usually resident population count nationally) increased in every region between 2018 and 2023. Gisborne, where over half the population identified as Māori, had more people identifying as Māori than as New Zealand European (54.8 percent compared with 52.4 percent). In contrast, fewer than 1 in 10 people identified as Māori in the Tasman and Otago regions (9.9 percent in both).

Further information

Ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups that people identify with or feel they belong to. People can identify with more than one ethnicity.

Stats NZ also publishes national and subnational population estimates for level 1 ethnic groups. Estimates based on the 2023 Census will be published in early 2025. For previous estimates see Aotearoa Data Explorer - Estimated resident population (ERP), national population by ethnic group, age, and sex, 30 June 1996, 2001, 2006, 2013, and 2018.

Te Whata has data about individuals and dwellings by Māori descent and iwi affiliation. Te Whata is a 'by iwi, for iwi' data platform developed by Te Kāhui Raraunga and supported by Stats NZ.