Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 00:58
Contribution of Immigration to Population Growth
The varying contributions of net migration and natural increase to the growth of the non-Maori population are evident from Diag. 1. For the first 40 years of the colony, immigration was the principal means of populating the country and developing it. Since the adult population was young, it had a high rate of natural increase and the combination of a high level of immigration and natural increase brought the European population from about 1,000 in 1839 to half a million by the early eighties. From this point immigration ceased to be the principal means of population increase. The following table divides the non-Maori population at census dates from 1867 into those born overseas and those born in New Zealand, and demonstrates clearly the changing roles of immigration and natural increase in population growth.
| Table 4: Contribution of Immigrants to Non-Maori Population, 1861–1961 | ||
| Census | Persons Born Overseas | Persons Born in New Zealand * |
| 1861 | 68,496 | 26,487 |
| 1864 | 129,781 | 40,086 |
| 1867 | 153,847 | 62,820 |
| 1871 | 162,379 | 92,009 |
| 1874 | 176,373 | 120,775 |
| 1878 | 239,338 | 172,179 |
| 1881 | 265,696 | 221,360 |
| 1886 | 276,263 | 298,232 |
| 1891 | 258,925 | 364,532 |
| 1896 | 261,095 | 439,402 |
| 1901 | 256,171 | 513,700 |
| 1906 | 281,859 | 603,669 |
| 1911 | 304,910 | 699,900 |
| 1916 | 303,702 | 790,918 |
| 1921 | 311,977 | 902,047 |
| 1926 | 323,955 | 991,296 |
| 1936 | 291,833 | 1,197,591 |
| 1945 | 245,183 | 1,357,323 |
| 1951 | 265,242 | 1,557,286 |
| 1956 | 309,547 | 1,726,193 |
| 1961 | 338,673 | 1,907,423 |
*The figures in the third column exclude all Maoris counted as such in the census. They include a very small proportion of non-Europeans born in New Zealand – less than 1 per cent of the total in 1961. The figures in both columns exclude persons who did not state a country of birth (1,802 in 1961), and also persons in the Armed Services overseas in the censuses from 1945 onwards.
The percentage of immigrants in the non-Maori population at census dates is shown in Diag. 4. The decline is continuous until 1956 when post-war immigration raised the proportion of immigrants a little. Immigration, however, is no longer of any great direct significance in overall population growth or size. For instance, in the 10 years ended April 1961 the net increase in the number of persons born overseas was 73,431, compared with an increase in non-Maori population born in New Zealand of 350,137 together with an expansion of Maori population of 51,410. In other words, the increase in the number of immigrants in the population accounted for only a little more than 15 per cent of the total population growth. The future importance of immigration lies: (i) in its immediate contribution to the working population because there is usually a much greater proportion of persons of working age among immigrants than among the rest of the population, and (ii) in its stimulation of natural increase since, compared with the existing population, a much larger proportion of immigrants is in the higher fertility age groups.
by Ronald John Marolle, B.COM., Assistant Chief Research Officer, Department of Labour, Wellington.
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