Auckland Ethnicity

The Herald reported:

White Europeans could lose majority status in Auckland in the next few years as the combined population of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Maori increases, Statistics New Zealand figures indicate.

While the city’s population was 76 per cent white European in 1976, projections show it will be 51 per cent in 2016, with further reductions in later years.

The forecast comes as the Herald begins a five-part series on ethnic diversity in Auckland, where about 40 per cent of the inhabitants were born overseas.

Nearly 70 per cent of Aucklanders in a Herald street poll said they were comfortable with the changing face of the city.

Massey University sociology professor Paul Spoonley, who made the Auckland population projection based on Statistics NZ figures, said it was a matter of “when” rather than “if” minority communities combined would outnumber white Europeans in Auckland.

I’m not sure why the Herald got someone to do their own projections, when Stats NZ do official projections themselves. The Stats NZ data, based on medium pop growth, for Auckland is:

So that is a fair bit different from the Herald data – 56% in 2016, not 51%.

Personally I don’t care about people’s ethnicity or race very much.  I care about the ability of people to integrate into New Zealand – but that is not reserved to people of any particular ethnicity or race. By integration, I don’t mean assimilation. I’m also more focused on the ability of the second generation to integrate. Of course those who speak English as a second language will have some challenges integrating, but what is more important is do their kids integrate.