The first data release from the Census happened yesterday. Newly released data from the 2018 shows that the number of Sikhs has more than doubled, from 19,191 in 2013 to 40,908 in 2018.
There are 34,227 Punjabi speaking people according to the census.
The first of Census 2018 data, released on Monday, provides a snapshot view of the country’s population, showing it has grown to 4.7 million since the last census in 2013.
The national survey, taken on March 6, 2018, has been considerably delayed, after one-in-six people failed to fully complete the first digital census and Statistics New Zealand was forced to patch the results with other Government data sets.
Census general Manager Kathy Connolly said New Zealand could expect to have a population of 5m people in 2020, and 60.9 per cent of the country’s population growth happened in the four northernmost regions.
The population of Christchurch has risen by more than 28,000, after the post-earthquake city lost residents in 2013. Hamilton is the youngest city, with a median age of 32 years.
Connolly said higher migration coincided with a growth in the overseas-born population. The number of New Zealand residents born in the country had dropped to 72.6 per cent, from 74.8 per cent in 2013.
“Those with an overseas birthplace were born in almost every country in the world, including 15 people born at sea,” she said.
England remained the most common birthplace outside of New Zealand, at 4.5 per cent compared to 5.4 per cent in 2013.