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Story: Population change

New Zealand population, 1951–2013

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Over two prosperous decades, the 1950s and 1960s, New Zealand’s population increased by about one million. By the 2006 census the country’s population had topped 4 million.

Using this item

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: New Zealand census, 1951–2001

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How to cite this page

Ian Pool and Natalie Jackson, Population change – Key population trends, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/graph/2412/new-zealand-population-1951-2013 (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Ian Pool and Natalie Jackson, published 3 March 2009, reviewed and revised 23 August 2018 with assistance from Natalie Jackson.