Auckland accounts for more than half of New Zealand's population growth, statistics released reveal.
The city of sails experienced the largest percentage growth in the year to June, increasing by 1.4 per cent, followed by Canterbury at 1.3 per cent, and Otago at 0.9 per cent, a Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) report, released today, shows. Auckland accounted for 57 per cent of the country's total population growth.
However, population size is growing across the country, with 13 of New Zealand's 16 regions seeing some form of increase.
The five fastest growing territorial authority areas were in the South Island, with Canterbury's growth accounting for 19 per cent of the nation's total population growth.
It came as Christchurch saw an increase in its population for the first time in two years, after numbers dropped following the earthquakes. The city's rebuild has brought an influx of new residents and tradespeople into the region.
As a whole, New Zealand's population growth remained low, with only 37,700 new people - a 0.9 per cent increase. However, this was up from the 0.6 per cent increase the previous year.
SNZ said the increase in the year to June 2013 was due to more births than deaths, and a net international migration gain of 7900.
- By Patrice Dougan of APNZ
