New Zealand-born in Australia, information summary from the Australian 2016 census. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Key comparisons:

How the New Zealand-born population compares to the total Australian population at the 2016 census:

• Median age 42 years (38 years)
• Median weekly income $840 ($688)
• Higher than school qualification 56.6 percent (60.1 percent)
• Employment rate 75.2 percent (64.6 percent)
• Unemployment 6.7 percent (6.9 percent)

Historical Background

The New Zealand-born continue to make up the second largest overseas-born group in Australia after the United Kingdom-born. Since colonial times, there have been close links between the two countries and from 1828 until 1840, New Zealand was under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New South Wales.

Movement between the two countries has also been significant, the direction depending on the economic situation in each country. The 1881 Censuses, both of Australia and of New Zealand, revealed that there were 16,100 Australians living in New Zealand compared with 6800 New Zealanders living in Australia. This net gain in favour of New Zealand continued until the 1950’s.

In the ensuing decades and particularly during the 1960’s there was a dramatic shift. By the 1971 Australian Census, the number of New Zealand-born living in Australia had jumped to 80,466 and by 1981 this number had more than doubled to 176,713. At that stage, this was more than three times the recorded number of Australians living in New Zealand (52,600).

By 1991, the number of New Zealand-born living in Australia had increased by a further 100,000 to 276,070. The most significant gain for Australia (136,000 New Zealand-born) occurred in the ten years between 1974 and 1984.

The 1973 Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement has allowed Australian and New Zealand citizens to enter each other’s country to visit, live and work, without the need to apply for authority to enter the other country before travelling.

2016 Census data – NZ-born in Australia

Geographic Distribution

The latest Census in 2016 recorded 518,466 New Zealand-born people in Australia, an increase of 7.3 per cent from the 2011 Census.

The 2016 distribution by State and Territory showed Queensland had the largest number with 201,206 followed by New South Wales (117,136), Victoria (93,253) and Western Australia (79,221).

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born geographic data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Age and gender

The median age of the New Zealand-born in 2016 was 42 years compared with 44 years for all overseas-born and 38 years for the total Australian population.

The age distribution showed 9.1 per cent were aged 0-14 years, 11.4 per cent were 15-24 years, 34.7 per cent were 25-44 years, 33.0 per cent were 45-64 years and 11.7 per cent were 65 years and over.

Of the New Zealand-born in Australia, there were 261,362 males (50.4 per cent) and 257,100 females (49.6 per cent). The gender ratio was 102 males per 100 females.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born age and gender data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Ancestry

In the 2016 Census, the top ancestry responses* that New Zealand-born people reported were English (246,654), Scottish (97,193) and Maori (89,616).

In the 2016 Census, Australians reported over 300 different ancestries. Of the total ancestry responses* 7,852,224 responses were towards English ancestry.

* At the 2016 Census up to two responses per person were allowed for the Ancestry question, therefore there can be more responses than total persons.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born ancestry data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Language

The main languages spoken at home by New Zealand-born people in Australia were English (464,870), Samoan (14,691) and Maori (New Zealand) (9,262).

Of the 50,301 New Zealand-born who spoke a language other than English at home, 95.3 per cent spoke English very well or well, and 3.1 per cent spoke English not well or not at all.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born language data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Religion

At the 2016 Census the major religious affiliations amongst New Zealand-born were Catholic (68,837), Anglican (61,633) and Presbyterian and Reformed (29,518).

Of the New Zealand-born, 43.8 per cent stated ‘No Religion’ which was higher than that of the total Australian population (29.6 per cent), and 5.0 per cent did not state a religion.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born religion data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Arrival

Compared to 61.8 per cent of the total overseas-born population, 64.3 per cent of the New Zealand-born people in Australia arrived in Australia prior to 2007.

Among the total New Zealand-born in Australia at the 2016 Census, 17.4 per cent arrived between 2007 and 2011 and 14.4 per cent arrived between 2012 and 2016.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born arrival in Australia data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Median Income

At the time of the 2016 Census, the median Individual Weekly Income for the New Zealand-born in Australia aged 15 years and over was $840, compared with $615 for all overseas-born and $688 for the total Australian population aged 15 and over.

Qualifications

At the 2016 Census, 56.6 per cent of the New Zealand-born aged 15 years and over had some form of higher non-school qualification compared to 60.1 per cent of the Australian population.

Of the New Zealand-born aged 15 years and over, 5.3 per cent had no qualifications and were still attending an educational institution. The corresponding rate for the total Australian population was 8.5 percent.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born qualifications data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Employment

Among New Zealand-born people aged 15 years and over, the participation rate in the labour force was 75.2 per cent and the unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent.

The corresponding rates in the total Australian population were 64.6 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively.

Of the 327,062 New Zealand-born who were employed, 43.3 per cent were employed in either a skilled managerial, professional or trade occupation. The corresponding rate in the total Australian population was 48.8 per cent.

Australian Census 2016 – NZ-born occupation data. (Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics/Dept of Home Affairs)

Produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the Department of Home Affairs

All data used in this summary is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2018.

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