Porirua now older

Porirua is a bigger, richer, older city than in 2006, according to new census figures.

The 2013 census statistics, released last week, give Porirua’s population as 51,717. At the last census, there were 3171 fewer people.

Porirua is now a larger city than Invercargill – by 21 people.

Median incomes around the country have risen and Porirua is no exception.

Incomes rose from $26,300 in 2006 to $ 31,400 this year. Porirua has a higher median income than the New Zealand average of $28,500.

More than 2800 people in Porirua earn more than $100,000, but the most common pay bracket is $ 50,000 to $70,000, the figure 4695 people are earning.

The next most popular pay bracket, with 3036 people, is zero income.

Unemployment has grown faster than employment in the city.

This year 2379 Porirua people were unemployed, compared with 1698 seven years ago. Employment has risen from 22,545 to 23,247 people.

Often trumpeted as a young city, Porirua is aging. Numbers of young people have declined or stayed the same in six of eight age brackets under 40.

The only categories increasing are 0 to 4-year-olds and 20 to 24-year-olds. Meanwhile, every age group from 40 up has increased in numbers.

There are 543 people aged 70 to 74 in Porirua, a 60 per cent jump from 2006.

English, Samoan and Maori remain Porirua’s top three languages, in that order. Twice as many people speak Samoan as Maori – 4881 and 2547 respectively – although 100 fewer people speak each language than seven years ago.

There are 45,747 people in Porirua who speak English. Of the rest of the population, 5000 do not speak English and 1000 are too young to speak.

Languages in which there has been an explosion in speakers include Filipino language Tagalog, which has more than doubled to 159 speakers. Mandarin and Cantonese have also doubled, to 153 and 231 respectively. Afrikaans speakers have grown from 231 to 405, Spanish from 189 to 306, and Hindi 258 to 420.

The most common ethnicity is European, at 31,047, followed by Pacific peoples at 12,738 and Maori at 10,131.