Move the mouse over the lines on the graph to see the population figures. Click on a place name in the key to remove that line from the graph; click on the name again to restore it.

At the beginning of the 20th century two mining towns – declining Thames and booming Waihī – were the only urban centres on the Coromandel Peninsula. The development of dairy farming as a principal economic activity, especially on the Hauraki Plains, boosted Thames and saw Paeroa also grow steadily, whilst Waihī declined from its boom years before stabilising. The population of all three towns remained steady through the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 1970s and 1980s holiday towns on the peninsula, in particular Whitianga and Whangamatā, grew rapidly. Whitianga's population growth accelerated in the 2000s as major developments were completed.