Migration gain of 72,305 sets yet another record
New Zealand hit an annual immigration record last month.
The country had net immigration of 72,305 in the 12 months to the end of June, as migrant arrivals rose 5.1 per cent to a record 131,355 and departures advanced 5.6 per cent to 59,050, Statistics New Zealand said.
The increase in the latest year was driven mainly by non- New Zealand citizens, who provided the country with a net gain of 73,600 migrants while there was a net loss of 1300 New Zealand citizens, Stats NZ said.
New Zealand has been experiencing record immigration over the past three years as the country lures more foreigners to our shores, with the numbers far surpassing the last migration boom back in the mid- 2000s.
Rising immigration is shaping up to be a key election issue as it strains the country’s housing and infrastructure, which haven’t kept pace with population growth, especially in Auckland, which attracts about half of the new arrivals.
“New Zealand has seen a net gain of 72,000 people due to migration over the past year and current trends suggest that these elevated numbers are unlikely to turn around anytime soon,” Kiwibank chief economist Zoe Wallis and senior economist Jeremy Couchman said in a note on migration published before yesterday’s data.
“The rapid rise in net migration in recent years has meant that New Zealand is currently experiencing the fastest pace of population growth seen since the mid- 1970s. A rapidly growing population has an impact on the NZ economy through increased demand for goods and services, higher demand for housing and also a larger supply of available workers,” the economists said.
While migration is a hot topic heading into this year’s general election, the economists noted that on a per capita basis, New Zealand remains “very sparsely populated”, with an average of 17 people per square kilometre, compared with the OECD average of around 33 people per square kilometre.
In the latest data, the biggest increase in net migration for the June year were from the United Kingdom ( up 2600) and South Africa ( up 1800). India saw the largest fall in net migration gain, down to 7400 in the June 2017 year from 12,100 in the June 2016 year, which Stats NZ said reflected fewer student visa arrivals from India.
Australia is the largest source of arrivals, followed by the UK and China.
Of the 33,500 departures of New Zealand citizens in the June 2017 year, 61 per cent went to Australia.
“The number of New Zealanders moving offshore remains very low, and we continue to see large numbers of New Zealand citizens returning from Australia,” said Westpac Bank senior economist Satish Ranchhod.
Separately, tourism data released yesterday showed visitor arrivals for the June 2017 year rose 10 per cent to a record of 3.6 million.
For the month of June, visitor arrivals jumped 17 per cent to 230,100, with visitor arrivals from the UK and Ireland accounting for 49 per cent of the rise.
Irish and UK visitor arrivals numbered 23,400, which is the secondhighest number for a June month since 2005, which also coincided with the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, Stats NZ said.
Meanwhile, overseas trips by New Zealand residents rose 11 per cent to reach an annual record of 2.7 million, with 44 per cent of those headed to Australia, the agency said.