Migration continues to rise

Thursday 21st October 2010

New Zealand’s permanent population continued to grow in September, though kiwis leaving the country were moving across the Tasman again.

Seasonally adjusted net permanent and long-term migration, calculated as arrivals minus departures, was 1,100 in September, a gain on the 900 recorded for both July and August, said Statistics New Zealand.

Before the return to growth, permanent migrant number had fallen from 1,800 in January to 200 in June. Net outflow of New Zealanders to Australia in the September was 18,100. Net migration for the September year was 13,900, with 6,300 more Britons, 5,900 from India, and 3,500 more Chinese. The gain from the U.K. was down from 9,200 in the same month last year.

“Departures to Australia remain on an upward trend, reflecting their relatively stronger labour market as can be seen in recent Australian employment data,” said Christina Leung, an ASB economist.

“Offsetting this increase in departures to Australia was a decline in departures to other countries, including the UK and US.”

Short-term arrivals continued to show steady improvement, with 174,200 people visiting New Zealand in September, up 1% from the same month last year, the highest number of visitors ever recorded for a September. The main increases were from Korea, with 1,200 more visitors, as well as China and Australia, each up 1,100.

“There looks to be a recovery in long-haul tourists, with an increase in visitors from Asia and the US,” Leung said.

“Meanwhile, strong increases in the number of Australian tourists look to have plateaued in recent months.”

Visitors from the UK continued to decrease in September, down 2,000 to 8,600, the lowest number of visitor arrivals from the UK for a September month since 2000.

New Zealand residents departed on 210,000 overseas trips in September, a new high, up 9% from the same month in the previous period. New Zealanders took more trips to Australia, China, the US, Samoa, and the UK, but fewer to Fiji.

Businesswire.co.nz

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