• Population size and growth
• Components of population change
• Fertility
• Distribution of the population
• Ethnic composition of the population
• Age and sex structure of the population
• Households
• Families with children
• New Zealanders experiencing disability
• Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people

Ethnic composition of the population

The New Zealand population is becoming more ethnically diverse.

While the European ethnic group category still has the largest share (80 percent), the number of people identifying as European increased by 3 percent between 1991 and 2001. Over the same period, the number who identified as Māori increased by 21 percent, the Pacific peoples ethnic group increased by 39 percent, and the number of Asian people increased by 138 percent.

Table P2 Ethnic distribution of the population, 1991 and 2001

Source: Statistics New Zealand, 2001 Census, National Summary, Table 8
Note: The ethnic data in this table allows up to three responses per person. Where a person reported more than one ethnic group, they have been counted in each applicable group. Totals therefore do not add up to 100 percent

In 2001, Māori made up 15 percent of the population compared with 13 percent in 1991. More people belonged to an Asian ethnic group than a Pacific peoples ethnic group in 2001. Ethnic groups other than European, Māori, Asian or Pacific made up less than 1 percent of the population in 2001. By 2021, the Māori share of the population is projected to be 17 percent, the Pacific peoples share 9 percent and the Asian share 15 percent.⁶

Ethnic diversity varies by age: among those under 25 years at the 2001 Census, 74 percent had a European ethnicity, 22 percent were Māori, 10 percent were Pacific peoples, 8 percent were Asian and 1 percent other ethnic groups. Among those aged 65 and over, Europeans made up 93 percent, Māori 4 percent, Pacific peoples and Asian each made up 2 percent and other ethnic groups 0.2 percent.

The number of people with multiple ethnic identities is increasing. In 2001, 91 percent of the population identified with one ethnicity, down from 95 percent in 1991. Having multiple ethnic identities is particularly common among Māori. Of those who said they belong to the Māori ethnic group in 2001, 44 percent also identified with at least one other ethnicity. Younger people are far more likely to identify with more than one ethnicity than older people. Birth registration data for 2003 shows that about one in five babies was identified with more than one ethnicity, compared to one in 10 mothers.⁷

The figures for the ethnic distribution used in this section are based on the number of people identifying with each ethnicity. Because people can identify with more than one ethnicity, the total number of ethnic responses may be greater than the number of people. Elsewhere in the report the approach to measuring ethnicity varies with the data source used.