Population growth takes slow lane
Population growth has seen a healthy increase but at the lowest rate since 2000.
New Zealand’s population has seen a comfortable increase over the September 2011 year but with a growth rate turning out to be the lowest for a September year since 2000.
A release by Statistics New Zealand has reported a average population growth to 4,414,400 in the September 2011 year by 33,500 (0.8%), with 32,800 of those a result of a natural increase of births over deaths and a net migration gain of 800.
“Over the last decade New Zealand’s population increased by just over half a million, up from 3,895,400 at 30 September 2001,” said Population Statistics manager Andrea Blackburn.
“This is an average annual growth rate of 1.3 percent, which is similar to the global average annual growth rate.”
To give some perspective, New Zealand’s contribution to the recent global population increase to seven billion is comparable to that of Ireland, Georgia, and Croatia.
Age means have also risen seeing a slight increase in the average age of the country’s total population to 36.8 years, up from a similar result of a 36.7-year average in 2010.
It is uncertain as to whether this drop in population growth rates is a direct result of recent global economic concerns affecting young families, however the constant increase in population numbers would surely have an effect on resource and product demand.
Robert McCambridge
Mon, 14 Nov 2011
Mon, 14 Nov 2011
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Population growth takes slow lane
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