The points system of entry led to increased and diverse immigration. Between 1971 and 1991 the number of foreign-born residents had increased by 116,000. In the decade after 1991 the number increased by 170,000, to a total of almost 700,000 not born in New Zealand. By 2001 the proportion of these immigrants in the total population was the highest it had been since 1936.
In the following five years, the number of foreign-born residents grew to 879,543 – 22.9% of the population.
Europeans
Through the 1990s the number of English and Scots fell, and by 2006 those born in the United Kingdom were less than a quarter of all foreign-born immigrants. There were still some new arrivals of European ethnicity.
A few arrived who were born in Australia – some the families of returning New Zealanders, others attracted by job opportunities in a trans-Tasman economy. By 2006 there were more than 40,000 South Africans, most of European descent, many uncomfortable at the direction of change in their homeland. There were almost 11,000 Germans – a resurgence after 100 years – and almost 18,000 from the United States. These groups were seeking a safe, ‘clean and green’ refuge for their families, or came to take up professional opportunities. The number of French increased to 2,500, and there were now almost 5,000 Russians in New Zealand.
Africans and Middle Eastern people
Political crises in North Africa and the Middle East brought in people from Somalia, Iraq and Iran to add their distinctive cultures to New Zealand’s cities. Many came as refugees, most notably 131 Afghans on board the Tampa in 2001, after Australia refused to allow them to land. By 2006 there were more than 16,000 people from North Africa and the Middle East in New Zealand.
Pacific Islanders
Pacific Islanders did not arrive in great numbers during this period. They were disadvantaged by the new emphasis on skills, capital and education, and population pressures in the home islands had diminished. The only substantial increase was among those born in Fiji, where the Indian community was under political pressure. By the turn of the century, Pacific Island communities were a large and vital part of New Zealand’s cities – and also of its rugby and netball teams – but the majority of their members were New Zealand-born.
Asians
The most significant influx in this period was from Asia – but not from the regions of Indonesia, Malaysia or Indochina which had previously been important sources. By 2006, China and Hong Kong together contributed more than 85,000 people to the resident population in New Zealand. Some came for an education or to transfer their skills to an uncrowded, cleaner country. Another major area of origin, with almost 40,000 residents, was North-East Asia: South Korea and Japan, from where all but a handful arrived from the 1990s onwards. Many came to Auckland to invest and establish their families in a healthy environment. The Filipino population more than tripled between 1991 and 2006, with a high proportion being women marrying Kiwi men. There were substantial migrations from South Asia – in the 15 years to 2006, the Indian community quadrupled and the Sri Lankan community tripled. In 2006, people of Asian ethnicity made up 9.2% of the population – up from 6.6% five years earlier.
Watershed years
The 1990s were significant in New Zealand immigration history – foreigners arrived in large numbers from new places of origin. The Chinese, though joining older communities, came from different parts of China than earlier immigrants.
Apart from some of the refugees, these newcomers were not the poor and the struggling, but educated and comparatively wealthy people. Their numbers allowed them to cluster together in their own suburbs, especially in Auckland, and to establish their own churches, schools, restaurants and social rituals. By living together they became more visible; not surprisingly, there was some adverse political response to these developments.
In 1995 and again in 2002 the English-language requirements for entry were raised. In 2003 new conditions targeted those with high skills. There was some evidence that the number of immigrants from non-European countries fell as a result.
Yet the revolution was irreversible. In 2004 it was said that New Zealand had the world's second highest proportion of immigrants in its workforce, after Australia. The census of 2006 showed that only 67 in every 100 New Zealanders were of purely European ethnicity. People of Pacific Island ethnicity comprised 6.9% of the population; 9.2% were Asian.
For over 130 years, from 1840 to the 1970s, New Zealand sought to people itself with ‘kith and kin’ from the United Kingdom. In the years since then, immigration from new countries has transformed the nation’s culture and values.