Nō whea koe? One in five New Zealanders now Māori - Census
Wednesday, 29 May 2024
New Census data shows a “young, resilient and rapidly growing” Māori population, that is outstripping the rest of Aotearoa.
There’s an “real possibility” that Māori could become a majority group in Aotearoa.
Census data shows the trends will only increase in the future with one in three under-25s now Māori.
One in five New Zealanders are Māori, with the indigenous population of Aotearoa growing at double the rate of the overall population, new Census figures show.
The younger population skews Māori even harder, with about one in three people under the age of 25 identifying as Māori.
The release of the Census data comes as leader of an iwi data group says there’s an “absolute possibility”, given the rapid population growth of Māori, that our indigenous people could one day become a majority.
The data shows 19.6% - or 978,246 - of Aotearoa New Zealand’s population are of Māori descent, an increase of 12.5% since 2018.
The entire New Zealand population increased 6.3% over the same period.
Kirikowhai Mikaere, spokesperson for iwi data group Te Kāhui Raraunga, said the Māori population was “young, resilient, and rapidly growing”.
“Increasingly, we will also see Māori influence market trends and cultural norms as we continue to make up a larger percentage of Aotearoa New Zealand’s total population.”
She said the youthful Māori population would play a “crucial” role in New Zealand’s growth and advancement.
“All of Aotearoa will prosper if we ensure Māori have the resources and opportunities to reach our full potential and drive progress as a country.”
In a first, the new data was released been released on Te Whata – an iwi-led data platform developed by Te Kāhui Raraunga.
The rapid increase in the Māori proportion of the population was revealed as iwi, hapū and Māori in general have a fraught relationship with the coalition government.
A nationwide protest will run on Thursday coinciding with the government’s Budget Day, while a kotahitanga hui will launch on Friday in Hawke’s Bay.
The protests run alongside a raft of cases before the Waitangi Tribunal and the High Court against government legislation and policies.
Where are Māori living?
In 2023, nearly a quarter (23.3%) of the Māori descent population - 227,898 - were living in the Auckland region. Māori made up 13.8% of the Auckland population.
Waikato was the next most popular place for Māori to live, with 14.1% (137,742) of the Māori population living there.
This was followed by the Bay of Plenty with 11.2% (109,953) of Māori living there.
The region where Māori make up the highest proportion of the resident population is Gisborne, where more than half - 56% - of the total population are of Māori descent.
This was followed by Northland region where two in 5 people (39.9%), are Māori and then the Bay of Plenty region where one third (32.9%) are Māori.
Within Te Waipounamu, the South Island, Māori were most likely to live in Canterbury - 79,647 Māori representing 8.1% of the total Māori population live there.
Canterbury’s Māori population has increased by 19.6% between 2018 and 2023.
Where to from here?
Rahui Papa, chairperson of Te Kāhui Raraunga, told Stuff he was adamant New Zealand needs to plan for Māori becoming a large factor in New Zealand’s population.
“In five, 10, 15 years Māori will be the taxpayers and the social investment beneficiaries. We’re adamant that planning needs to be based around this,” he said.
Papa said the data very much showed the capabilities of Māori data sovereignty.
Today marked the first time census data was released on a non governmental platform at the same time as on the governments website.
Māori could be a majority population in time, Papa said.
“There are growing trends, Māori are growing at double [the rate of the rest of New Zealand. The data doesn’t include Māori living overseas, so there could be more than 1 million Māori, there’s a real possibility [of this] taking place.”