New Zealand's Population Exodus Hits 13-Year High as Economy Worsens

New Zealand citizens leaving the country have hit the highest levels in 13 years, with more than a third of those emigrating aged under 30 years as unemployment rises and economic growth remains soft. From a report: Data released by Statistics New Zealand on Friday showed 71,800 New Zealand citizens departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2025, up from 67,500 in the previous 12-month period and below the record 72,400 in the year ended February 2012. New Zealand's net migration, which is the number of those arriving minus those leaving, also fell with foreign nationals moving to the country of 5.3 million nearly halving from 2024.

Re:Mexicans

[zurtle]

Not Mexicans but Indians seem to be filling the void in New Zealand. "Singh" was the most common surname for babies born in the country for the seventh year in a row.

Re:Mexicans

[larryjoe]

Not Mexicans but Indians seem to be filling the void in New Zealand. "Singh" was the most common surname for babies born in the country for the seventh year in a row.

There are indeed a significant number is Sikhs and Indians in New Zealand. However, having the Sikh names at the top of the Pareto (Singh is#1 and Kaur is #2) is due to registering all male Sikh babies as Singh and all females as Kaur. Not quite the same, but a somewhat similar but muted effect is seen with Chinese names, where a few common surnames constitute a majority. This is in contrast to European names that are much more broadly distributed.

Re: Mexicans

[silveride]

Western societies are largely transforming into Asian ones (and might get there in a few years). With an inability to support fertility rates, frantic pursuit of GDP and a pretence that immigration is beneficial, are going to hollow out the western culture and establish the Asian way of life sooner. Everyone, including the immigrants, would at some point realise that the western life is a mirage: canâ(TM)t have a family, no home, endless debt and a govt who seems to be doing everything to destroy the s

Re: Mexicans

[test321]

I don't want to appear to minimise the severity of our problems in general, but some of those you cited, in my opinion, are cheaply transposed from USA and don't apply directly. When you say endless debt, for example, I answer that in France (the stats I can get easily) 70% of payment cards are Debit, most people will never own a Credit card. "No home" is difficult to address, 95.8% percent of Romanians are homeowners, while 41.6% of Swiss are homeowners ( https://www.cnews.fr/monde/202... [cnews.fr] source, in French). Now compare the levels of living in Switzerland and Romania, would you prefer to be a homeowner in Romania or a renter in Switzerland?

Re:

[registrations_suck]

Not enough info to answer your question. Just knowing whether I am a home owner or a home renter doesn't cut it. I would have to have a lot more info about both scenarios to make a decision.

But not having any of that information, I would venture a guess that my money would go a lot further in Romanian than it would in Switzerland....but that's just a guess.

I guess I kind of view the question as if it were "Would rather live in California of ANYWHERE ELSE in the U.S.? The answer is clearly "anywhere else",

Re:

[Smonster]

Maybe, the highest birth rates are in Africa. If they ever collectively figure out how to raise their life expectancy and economic outputs they could definitely give Asia a run for its money. Especially considering the most productive parts of Asia have some of the lowest birth rates in the world. Just like the most productive parts of North America and Europe.

Re:

[registrations_suck]

Africa is a lost cause. They would rather spend their time killing each other over the being the wrong shade of black (or whatever) instead of making money and improving their situation. It's a shame. Africa used to be such a nice place.

Re:

[war4peace]

Africa used to be such a nice place.

When?

Re:

[registrations_suck]

A few million years ago.

Re:

[sinkskinkshrieks]

Africa isn't a country, mate. Africa is a continent containing many countries that have widely-varying situations and political factions. Some are fucked by Islamists, others by warlords, and still others by the legacy of white supremacy like land ownership in South Africa. Some countries are pretty damn stable too like Cape Verde, Lesotho, and Tanzania. There are many middling-stability countries.

Re:

[colonslash]

Sounds like it's time to End The Fed and get back on The Gold Standard.

Re:

[0xG]

Maybe they can start importing Mexicans. There seems to be an endless supply of them and they're happy to go somewhere besides Mexico.

You're a hateful racist bastard.
Thank you for representing the Republican party.

I am not sure what the relevance

[Retired Chemist]

of this to Slashdot is. Their does not seem to be any technical content.

Re:

[Rinnon]

Uhhh, you know... statistics. Or something. Techies love New Zealand?

Re:

[TigerPlish]

oh, you know perfectly well why it was posted.

It's a troll. Stir up the pot. That's all msmash is good for.

Technical articles here have comments numbering in the low-dozens to single-digits.

Politically-charged tripe will get hundreds. Much more engagement, and that is the only thing this place cares about.

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

of this to Slashdot is. Their does not seem to be any technical content.

Slashdotters love Lord of the Rings, and the movies were shot in New Zealand. 'nuff said.

Re:

[chas.williams]

And I suspect those movies and associated tourism propped up the economy of New Zealand for several years. The first three moves cost $281 million to make. New Zealand's GDP had quite a bump during the filming of those movies. https://countryeconomy.com/gdp... [countryeconomy.com]

Re:

[sinkskinkshrieks]

As long as you're speaking for us and it involves LOTR, that's cool; but just don't say we "love" the racist-bigot billionaire writer for dorks Harry Potter. Harry Potter can get disintegrated and drop teeth to the floor for all I care. Also, she's a Brit.

Re:

[sinkskinkshrieks]

2/ I meant to say *Ms.* Harry Potter. Oops.

It's Boomer rage bait

[rsilvergun]

Which given the average age of slashdot readers is in a roundabout way relevant I guess...

As an added bonus there's a lot of right wingers here who eat crap like this up. Like all this stories about how LA is a burnt out hellscape ala mad Max beyond thunderdome.

Anyway one of the editors must have noticed the page views around here going down in greenlit this for engagement. I guess if you squint real hard and maybe drink a little booze and snort a little Coke and smoke some weed and eat some of the

Re:

[noshellswill]

Kids don't wander onto anothers property to play hide-and-sneak. They race/stealth thru  to steal --- property: lawn-mowers, deck chairs, flamingos, gas-grills, posted packages ... and you testify this happens mostly in the south ? Not from my 1st-person perspective. ; men may still be  gentleman. Big-Blue northern cities & burbs  filled with corrupted savages of-all-classes  provide  the most likely locations for "drive-run/by"  theft.

Re:I am not sure what the relevance

[thegarbz]

This is Slashdot, it has never been limited to technical stuff. News for Nerds, Stuff that matters. There's plenty of nerds who are interested in the macroeconomic impact of population decline. We've covered Japan here, we've covered Germany here, why are you suddenly upset about New Zealand?

Slashdot relies on submissions from people. Have YOU submitted technical stories recently? Be the change you want to see, contribute to the site, or STFU.

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

Maybe once all the workers have left New Zealand it could accidentally become a workable billionaire's bug-out location after all...as long as they bring their own workers with Suicide Squad bomb collars or whatever, since they only know how to pay other people to actually do things...

Re:

[skam240]

Their does not seem to be any technical content.

Which has never in all my time using Slashdot (since the late 90's) been a requirement for articles on Slashdot.

What has been a thing since the 90's is people complaining about posted articles not belonging on the site so you have that proud tradition going for you though.

Re:

[sinkskinkshrieks]

There isn't a their there.

Re:

[bussdriver]

1) Lord of the Rings. Nerdland.
2) IT related jobs in demand for decades
3) The top country to live in on earth as ranked by the UN. They were in the top 3 forever usually #1.
4) Their population is too high to sustain a top-level lifestyle and is a preview of best case scenarios in a bleak future.

Net migration numbers?

[SouthSeb]

New Zealand's net migration, which is the number of those arriving minus those leaving, also fell with foreign nationals moving to the country of 5.3 million nearly halving from 2024.

It would be nice if the article didn't forget to mention what was the net migration number which was - drum roll - a 27,100 gain in 2024 after a peak record of 128,300 gain in 2023. Net migration 2001-2019 average gain was 29,100.

Natives are leaving much more than non-natives. But, yeah, in general that's actually expected.

http [stats.govt.nz]

Re:

[twms2h]

Natives are leaving much more than non-natives.

You mean that more Maori are leaving New Zealand than non-Maori?
I somehow doubt that.

Blame easier money

[ukoda]

If you dig in the numbers the most common reason for people to leave is chasing quick money in Australia. If you are in your earning prime then living in Australia for a while is an easier way to build wealth as pay there is higher while the lifestyle is similar, if you ignore that number of animals they have that want to kill you.

It is quite common for Kiwis to move there, build up savings and return home. Some like it better and stay.

I was never a fan of Robert Muldoon, but his funnest quote was "New Zealanders who leave for Australia raise the IQ of both countries". Sorry Australia, I couldn't resist...

Re:

[KMnO4]

I agree, it's economic migration of a 'I can do better somewhere else' kind, more than a "I can't survive here' type. I believe the same thing happens in Australia but the target is the US. Certain bright talents leave because they believe they will do better as a scientist, screenwriter, financier, musician, or whatever, in the states. I once met a guy on Wall Street from AU, he said to me he could have done well as a "big fish in a small pond" in Sydney, but knew he's make a lot more dough in NYC. We a

Re:

[hawk]

>if you ignore that number of animals they have that want to kill you.

so you're saying that the solution is to import hostile wildlife from Australia? :_)

hawks

Re:

[ukoda]

People often think New Zealand has the same dangerous animals as Australia whereas it is mainly sharks we have in common, pretty much all the others are only in Australia. I suspect the extra risk there would only put off a few people, but without them the numbers would be worse.

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

Just as Australia is full of venomous nightmare creatures, New Zealand is full of goofy flightless birds.

Re:

[ukoda]

No, the emu is Australia. We had the moa, which was like an emu but much bigger. Unfortunately they are currently extinct.

Re:

[q_e_t]

Stay out of the water and all is fine?

Re:

[ukoda]

Sure, even the risk with sharks is low, I have never seen one when swimming. We do have a spider with a nasty bite but it is not common. The animal that causes the most injuries here is domestic dogs.

Re:

[q_e_t]

And second probably the sheep, if they happen to roll down a hillside and hit you?

Re:

[ukoda]

If it ever happens I will let you know. However given the sheep I can see from my office are in a flat paddock don't expect to hear from me soon.

Cows on the other hand are worry. I have had one, on SH1, the main state highway, chase my car. If it had caught it the results would have been messy. I saved that dash cam clip. From my police scanner getting cows back in paddocks is a common activity around here. Not so much in the city.

Re:

[q_e_t]

My grandparents had a farm. As a young kid I got mobbed by over-affectionate calves more than once. Maybe the cow just wanted to be friends? Or maybe you were wearing its mother on your feet.

Think Welfare and Australia

[vladoshi]

We have a vague dual citizenship thing and many move back later.
New Zealand has a much tougher welfare system
It is not somewhere you move to strike it rich
You better like playing and watching Rugby because that is all you are getting

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

You better like playing and watching Rugby because that is all you are getting

NZ actually seems like a fun place to live with a good variety of outdoor sports, if you can afford it...

Cost of housing

[stevenaaus]

I'll just note for those that may not know - NZ, even more so than Australia, has a huge cost of housing crisis, contributed to by tourism, immigration, relatively low wages, and poor government policy.

Re:

[will4]

New Zealand's population exodus hits 13-year high as economy worsens
Reuters - August 14, 2025 - https://www.yahoo.com/news/art... [yahoo.com]

- New Zealand citizens leaving the country have hit the highest levels in 13 years
- more than a third of those emigrating aged under 30 years
- unemployment rises and economic growth remains soft
- Statistics New Zealand on Friday showed 71,800 New Zealand citizens departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2025,

That is about 1.3% percent population loss in a year of New Zealand's

It has all to do with declining rugby standards...

[ladislavb]

When the kiwis were the top dogs in rugby, everything was great and New Zealand was a proud nation. As things stand now, well...

It's quite possible that the immigration trend SA --> NZ is about to get reversed. After all, who wants to live in a country with a second-class rugby team?

That's okay

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaves more space for billionaires escaping from the shit holes they created in the US and elsewhere

Such an enlightened society

[MrBrklyn]

Not just that, but their birthrate is unsustainable.

Net migration is still +40K

[pkp413]

What is conveniently left out to make this nothing burger a click-bait is how many people immigrate to NZ. That's 250-150K/year. So even with 80K/year migration outflow, over 50-100-150K more people moved in to NZ, resulting in a healthy overall population growth.