Covid-19 blamed for Auckland's population declining for the first time

Friday, 22 October 2021

Auckland will move into the 'red' setting of the Government's new Covid-19 traffic light system when the region hits 90 per cent double vaccine doses, even if the rest of the country hasn't hit the target.

Auckland’s population has fallen for the first time ever, with Covid-19 being blamed for people moving out of the region.

Statistics New Zealand population estimates and projections manager Hamish Slack said while the population decrease in Tāmaki Makaurau was only 1300 - or 0.1 per cent - this was still a “significant change”.

“The Auckland region has averaged population growth of 1.8 percent a year over the previous 20 years, higher than the national average growth of 1.4 percent a year,” Slack said.

The region’s population was estimated to be 1.72 million at the end of June.

Auckland’s population has dropped for the first time. (File photo)

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“Covid-19 international travel restrictions continued to curb population increases from international migration,” he said.

Although Auckland’s overall population fell, its northernmost and southernmost areas still grew significantly, with southern Papakura, Franklin and Rodney local board areas seeing growth.

“These three high-growth local board areas gained most of their population increase from people moving into those areas from other parts of Auckland and New Zealand,” Slack said.

New Zealand saw slowing population growth across all regions, with the national rate dropping from 2.2 percent in 2020 to 0.6 this year – the lowest it has been since 2012.

The population decreased in the Auckland, West Coast, and Southland regions, and other regions experienced lower growth, he said.

“In contrast, all regions had population growth in 2020,” Slack said.

The fastest-growing regions were Northland, Tasman and Bay of Plenty, with the increase being mainly driven by people moving there from other areas of the country, Slack said.