The People of New Zealand

People of New Zealand

• Nationality:

noun: New Zealander(s)

adjective: New Zealand

• Ethnic groups:

European 71.2%, Maori 14.1%, Asian 11.3%, Pacific peoples 7.6%, Middle Eastern, Latin American, African 1.1%, other 1.6%, not stated or unidentified 5.4%

note: based on the 2013 census of the usually resident population; percentages add up to more than 100% because respondents were able to identify more than one ethnic group (2013 est.)

• Languages: English (de facto official) 89.8%, Maori (de jure official) 3.5%, Samoan 2%, Hindi 1.6%, French 1.2%, Northern Chinese 1.2%, Yue 1%, Other or not stated 20.5%, New Zealand Sign Language (de jure official)

note: shares sum to 120.8% due to multiple responses on census (2013 est.)

• Religions: Christian 44.3% (Catholic 11.6%, Anglican 10.8%, Presbyterian and Congregational 7.8%, Methodist, 2.4%, Pentecostal 1.8%, other 9.9%), Hindu 2.1%, Buddhist 1.4%, Maori Christian 1.3%, Islam 1.1%, other religion 1.4% (includes Judaism, Spiritualism and New Age religions, Baha'i, Asian religions other than Buddhism), no religion 38.5%, not stated or unidentified 8.2%, objected to answering 4.1%

note: based on the 2013 census of the usually resident population; percentages add up to more than 100% because people were able to identify more than one religion (2013 est.)

• Population: 4,401,916 (July 2014 est.)

country comparison to the world: 127

• Age structure:

0-14 years: 20% (male 450,985/female 429,184)

15-24 years: 13.9% (male 313,711/female 298,427)

25-54 years: 40.4% (male 890,678/female 888,565)

55-64 years: 11.4% (male 245,084/female 255,879)

65 years and over: 14% (male 290,429/female 338,974) (2014 est.)

• population pyramid:

Dependency ratios:

total dependency ratio: 52.5 %

youth dependency ratio

30.7 %

elderly dependency ratio: 21.8 %

potential support ratio: 4.6 (2014 est.)

• Median age:

total: 37.6 years

male: 36.7 years

female: 38.4 years (2014 est.)

• Population growth rate:

0.83% (2014 est.)

country comparison to the world: 132

• Birth rate:

13.4 births/1,000 population (2014 est.)

country comparison to the world: 151

• Death rate: 7.3 deaths/1,000 population (2014 est.)

country comparison to the world: 123

• Net migration rate:

2.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2014 est.)l

country comparison to the world: 45

• Urbanization:

urban population: 86.2% of total population (2011)

rate of urbanization: 1.09% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

• Major urban areas - population:

Auckland 1.452 million; WELLINGTON (capital) 410,000 (2011)

• Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female

total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2014 est.)

• Mother's mean age at first birth: 27.8

note: median age at first birth (2009 est.)

• Maternal mortality rate: 15 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

country comparison to the world: 144

Infant mortality rate:

total: 4.59 deaths/1,000 live births

• country comparison to the world: 184

male: 5.14 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 4.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2014 est.)

• Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 80.93 years

• country comparison to the world: 26

male: 78.88 years

female: 83.08 years (2014 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.05 children born/woman (2014 est.)

• country comparison to the world: 119

Health expenditures: 10.1% of GDP (2011)

country comparison to the world: 24

• Physicians density: 2.74 physicians/1,000 population (2010)

Hospital bed density: 2.3 beds/1,000 population (2011)

• Drinking water source:

improved:

urban: 100% of population

rural: 100% of population

total: 100% of population

unimproved:

urban: 0% of population

rural: 0% of population

total: 0% of population (2012 est.)

• HIV/AIDS -

adult prevalence rate: 0.1% (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 163

• HIV/AIDS -

people living with HIV/AIDS:

2,500 (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 137

• HIV/AIDS -

deaths: fewer than 100 (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 138

• Obesity -

adult prevalence rate:

28.3% (2008)

• country comparison to the world: 34

• Education expenditures:

7.4% of GDP (2012)

country comparison to the world: 16

• Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 99%

male: 99%

female: 99% (2003 est.)

• School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total: 19 years

male: 19 years

female: 20 years (2011)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:

total: 17.7%

• country comparison to the world: 69

male: 17.3%

female: 18.1% (2012)

MORE ABOUT PEOPLE OF GUYANA

Ethnic groups

Contemporary New Zealand has a majority of people of European origin, a significant minority of Maori, and smaller numbers of people from Pacific islands and Asia. In the early 21st century, Asians were the fastest-growing demographic group.

New Zealand was one of the last sizable land areas suitable for habitation to be populated by human beings. The first settlers were Polynesians who traveled from somewhere in eastern Polynesia, possibly from what is now French Polynesia. They remained isolated in New Zealand until the arrival of European explorers, the first of whom was the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642. Demographers estimate that, by the time British naval captain James Cook visited the country in 1769, the Maori population was not much greater than 100,000. They had no name for themselves but eventually adopted the name Maori (meaning “normal”) to distinguish themselves from the Europeans, who, after Cook’s voyage, began to arrive with greater frequency.

The Europeans brought with them an array of diseases to which the Maori had no resistance, and the Maori population declined rapidly. Their reduction in numbers was exacerbated by widespread intertribal warfare (once the Maori had acquired firearms) and by warfare with Europeans. By 1896 only about 42,000 Maori—a small fraction of New Zealand’s total population at the time—remained. Early in the 20th century, however, their numbers began to increase as they acquired resistance to such diseases as measles and influenza and as their birth rate subsequently recovered. By the early 21st century, Maori constituted more than one-sixth of New Zealand’s population, and that proportion was expected to increase.

Europeans began to settle in New Zealand in the 1820s. They arrived in increasing numbers after the country was annexed by Great Britain following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. By the late 1850s settlers outnumbered Maori, and in 1900 there were some 772,000 Europeans, most of whom were New Zealand-born. Although the overwhelming majority of immigrants were of British extraction, other Europeans came as well, notably from Scandinavia, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the Balkans. Groups of central Europeans came between World Wars I and II, and a large body of Dutch immigrants arrived after World War II. Since the 1950s there has been a growing community of Pacific island peoples from Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. Although Chinese and Indian immigrants have long settled in New Zealand, since the 1990s there has been a large growth in migration from Asia.

Languages

New Zealand is predominantly an English-speaking country, though English, Maori, and New Zealand Sign Language are official languages. Virtually all Maori speak English, and about one-fourth of them also speak Maori. The Maori language is taught at a number of schools. Other non-English languages spoken by significant numbers of people are Samoan, Hindi, and Mandarin Chinese.

Religion

New Zealand is nominally Christian, with Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian denominations being the largest. Other Protestant sects, Islam, and Maori adaptations of Christianity (the Ratana and Ringatu churches) account for nearly all of the rest, although more than one-third of the population does not claim any religious affiliation. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism have small but growing numbers of adherents. There is no established (official) religion, but Anglican cathedrals are generally used for state occasions.

Settlement patterns

The majority of New Zealanders live in the North Island. The New Zealand countryside is thinly populated, but there are many small towns with populations of up to 10,000 and a number of provincial cities of more than 20,000. Some of the smallest towns and villages have become deserted as people moved to the bigger towns and cities.

The main urban areas are Auckland, in the north of the North Island, the main industrial complex and commercial centre; Hamilton, the centre of the Waikato farming region; Wellington, centrally located at the southern tip of the North Island and the political capital; Christchurch, in the middle of the South Island and the second largest industrial area; and finally, still farther south, Dunedin. Although New Zealand is notable for the strength of its rural sector, the great majority of people live in cities. There is also a marked difference in the degree of population growth of the two main islands—the North having about three-fourths of the total population, in sharp contrast to the earlier years of systematic settlement. As in the past, the great majority of Maori live in the North Island. After World War II, however, most Maori became urban dwellers, as did migrants from the Pacific islands.

Demographic trends

Life expectancy in New Zealand is generally high, although it is lower for Maori than for non-Maori. The death rate is below the world average. Annual population growth fluctuates but is generally low, comparable to that of other industrialized Western countries. The natural rate of increase tends to be highest among Maori and people of Pacific island heritage.

Immigration is a major contributor to overall population growth in New Zealand, and that has led to frequent debates about limiting immigration. Although in the past most immigrants came from Great Britain and the Netherlands, they have been surpassed by people from the Pacific islands and Asia. Australia is the preferred destination of emigrants. Both immigration and emigration are sensitive to the rate of growth of the New Zealand economy and its employment opportunities as well as to conditions overseas.