About the data

Every figure on this site comes from the Stats NZ subnational population estimates released for 30 June 2021, downloaded as CSV files from stats.govt.nz. It covers 104 places: regions, cities, districts, Auckland's local board areas and the Chatham Islands.

Population counts are estimated resident population, not census counts, and are rounded by Stats NZ. Because of that rounding, births, deaths and migration will not always add up exactly to the yearly change.

Growth figures compare 30 June 2021 with 30 June 2020. The average growth figure covers the three years to 2020. Age bands and median age use the same estimate series.

The towns section uses a second Stats NZ series: population estimates for urban areas and rural settlements, running from 1996 to 30 June 2025. It covers 597 named places, from Auckland down to settlements of a few hundred people. Towns are grouped by Stats NZ size class rather than by region, because the town files do not name a region.

Stats NZ data is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.