NZ population diversifying; soon to reach 5 million

AS New Zealand counts down ticks to hitting a population of five million this year, experts are projecting the country will be its most ethnically diverse.

The Statistics New Zealand population estimate stood at 4,964,000 on Wednesday.

On average, there is one birth every 8 minutes and 43 seconds, one death every 17 minutes and 19 seconds and a net migration gain of one New Zealand resident every 7 minutes and 25 seconds.

It took 30 years for the population to move from three million in 1973 to four million in 2003, but it seems asif New Zealand will be hitting the five million mark in record time.

New Zealand faces a more culturally diverse future.

The proportion of Asians, Pasifika and Maori is forecast to outnumber Europeans in Auckland.

Auckland would be where 60% of the country’s growth would occur, and according to projections from StatsNZ, more than a third of the city’s population would be Asian by 2038.

One fifth would be Pasifika and there would also be more Maori living in the city.

Auckland would be the only city in New Zealand where the European group would become a ‘‘majorityminority’’, making up less than half of the city’s population.

This is sparking calls from experts for new levels of tolerance, especially after the March 15 attacks in Christchurch.

Experts said unless firm steps were taken, the unity and love for diverse communities seen after the mosque shootings would not last.

University of Auckland associate professor of geography Wardlaw Friesen said leadership and positive steps were needed to embrace diversity.

‘‘The spontaneous things that happened after March 15 need to be encouraged, developed further and planned in some cases, for example the meeting of different religious and cultural groups, the visits of nonMuslims to mosques, and reciprocal actions,’’ he said.

Racism existed in New Zealand and that needed to be acknowledged.

‘‘It is quite common for something that an ‘other’ person does stands out and may irritate us, so we do need to develop more programmes in schools, universities, communities, religious and civil society groups that explicitly address this issue.’’