Wellington only city not growing, census reveals

Wednesday, 29 May 2024

The capital is the only city that isn’t growing, the figures from the first release of Census 2023 data show.

While every other city council saw an increase in its population, Wellington remained exactly the same (in real numbers, a drop of 48 people). The only other territorial area that did not increase in population was the Chatham Islands.

Regionally, Wellington’s growth was lagging behind too. The region had almost the slowest growth rate in the country, at 2.8% between 2018 and 2023. It was second only to the Southland region, which grew by 2.7%.

The population of the Wellington region was 520,971 as recorded on census night 2023. The number of dwellings counted in the 2023 census is up 6.4%, to 216,000.

Mayor Tory Whanau said it was “really important to remember that people move in and out of cities all the time”.

“I know anecdotally that people have opted to buy homes out of the city because it’s more affordable.

“But we know that people still want to live in the city. This is exactly why the District Plan will allow for more townhouses and apartments, so that everyone who wants to live here, can.”

Porirua was the fastest growing city in the region, with 5.1% population growth. Kāpiti Coast grew by 4.2%, Upper Hutt by 4% and Lower Hutt by 2.9%.

Wairarapa was growing significantly faster than the other side of the hill, with increases of 9.9% in South Wairarapa, 9.9% in Carterton and 8.3% in Masterton.

These numbers came from Stats NZ in the first look at census data from 2023. The numbers showed South Island population was growing faster than the North Island – the fastest growing region was Tasman, and the fastest growing territorial areas were Selwyn and Queenstown Lakes.

Stats NZ’s Rosemary Goodyear said the results showed places with lifestyle value such as sunshine or access to recreation activities were growing, with trends changing after Covid-19 lockdowns.

Compared with the last census, where the Wellington region had grown by 7.5%, the growth of the region has almost halved.

The first tranche of data also provides insight into how the population make-up has changed.

Like the rest of New Zealand, the data showed that Wellington was becoming more ethnically diverse.

The percentage of European residents in the Wellington region has dropped slightly from 74.6% to 72.6%, in line with national trends.

Every other ethnic group has increased in proportion, with Māori up from 14.3% to 15.5%, Pacific peoples up from 8.4% to 9.1%, Asian up from 12.9% to 15.2%, and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African up from 1.9% to 2.3%.

Across the country, one in five people identified as being of Māori descent, a total of nearly 1 million people.