New Zealand's Ethnic Diversity

New Zealand has many different nationalities living in the country. This is a snapshop of the numbers of people. The census counted more people of Asian ethnicity than Pacific peoples ethnicity.  
Almost 240,000 or 1 in 15 people were of Asian ethnicity.  
Counts of people of Asian ethnicity have more than doubled between 1991 and 2001.  
There were 231,801 people of Pacific peoples ethnicity.  
The count of people of European ethnicity has declined from 83 percent of the total in the 1991 Census to 80 percent in 2001.  
1 in 7 people (526,281) are of Maori ethnicity.  
Two-thirds of people of Asian ethnicity live in the Auckland region and 1 in 8 live in the Wellington region.  
Two-thirds of the people of Pacific peoples ethnicity live in the Auckland region.  
In the Auckland region, 1 in 8 people are of Asian ethnicity, 1 in 8 of Pacific peoples ethnicity and 1 in 10 of Maori ethnicity. 
Nearly 9 out of 20 people in the Gisborne region are of Maori ethnicity.  
The fastest growing of the top 50 ethnic groups in 2001 were:  
Korean 2001 count =19026, % increase since then 1946 
Arab 2001 count =2856, % increase since then 1514 
Croat 2001 count =2502, % increase since then 1363 
Iraqi 2001 count =2145 % increase since then 772 
South African 2001 count =14889 % increase since then 642 
Russian 2001 count =3084 % increase since then 543 
More people born overseas  
Almost 1 in 5 New Zealand residents were born overseas compared with 1 in 6 in 1991 and 1 in 3 in 1901.  
In the Auckland region, 1 in 3 people were born overseas.  
In the Auckland region, 1 in 9 people were born in Asia. 
Almost three-quarters of people born in the Pacific Islands and two-thirds of those born in Asia live in Auckland.  
Almost 1 in 4 people in the Wellington region were born overseas, while fewer than 1 in 15 people in the Southland region were born overseas.  
The main countries of overseas birthplace were, in order:  
England, Australia, Samoa, China, Scotland. 
Over two million people are Christian.  
The main Christian denominations are Anglican (584,793 or 17 percent of people), Catholic (486,012 or 14 percent) and the Presbyterian group (417,453 or 11 percent).  
The number of Catholics increased by 12,900 between 1996 and 2001, while the number of Anglicans (-46,971) along with the Presbyterian group (-38,895) decreased. 
The count of Anglicans exceeded that of the other denominations in all regions except Auckland (where Catholics were largest) and Otago and Southland (where the Presbyterian group was the largest). 
The main denominations in the 1901 Census were Church of England (41 percent of people), Presbyterian (23 percent), Catholic (14 percent), and Methodist (11 percent).  
At the 1901 Census only 1 in 30 people did not give a religious affiliation.  
Almost 4 out of 10 people did not specify a religious affiliation in the 2001 Census.  
There has been an increase in people whose religion is non-Christian. 
The population is older  
The median age of the population has increased from 31 years at the 1991 Census to 35 years in 2001.  
In the 1901 Census the median age was 22 years.  
450,426 or nearly 1 in 8 people are aged 65 years and over compared with 1 in 25 in 1901.  
The Marlborough region has the highest proportion aged 65 years and over with nearly 1 in 6.  
The Auckland region has the lowest proportion aged 65 years and over with 1 in 10.  
The Gisborne region has the highest proportion of those aged under 15 years with more than 1 in 4.  
There was an increase of 26 percent in the number of people aged 85 years and over between 1996 and 2001.