(Corrects heading, paragraphs 1, 2 and 6 to say 12 months ending in November and not “year to November”, corrects paragraph 6 to say 12 months ending in October and not “year to October”, and adds dropped words in quotation marks in paragraph 10)
Written by Lucy Kramer
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The number of people leaving New Zealand has hit record levels in the 12 months to November 2024, in another sign of weakness in the country's economy, which moved into a technical recession in the third quarter.
Data released by Statistics New Zealand on Thursday showed 127,800 people left the Pacific nation in the 12 months to November, a 28% increase on the previous 12-month period. This was provisionally the largest number of people leaving the country during an annual period ever, according to the Census Bureau.
Of those who left, more than 50% were New Zealand citizens, according to the data.
New Zealand, with a population of just 5.3 million, has experienced economic hardship over the past two years as the central bank increased its official interest rate to curb historically high inflation.
Michael Gordon, chief economist at Westpac, said a lot of people come to New Zealand for jobs and when those people dry up they leave.
“It's about jobs, especially here (New Zealand) versus Australia. The Australian economy is still running reasonably strong,” Gordon said. “There's more opportunity out there now, so we're seeing a very large influx of New Zealanders.”
However, people who leave are still met with internal migration.
Statistics New Zealand said net migration – the number of people moving to New Zealand permanently minus those leaving New Zealand – was 30,600 in the 12 months to November 2024. Net migration peaked in the 12 months to October 2023 at 135,700.
Gordon added that net migration is now back to its historical averages and that net migration in the long term will support the country's economy.
“It's something we have to keep in mind, that for a large part of the world, New Zealand is an attractive place to live, but for us (New Zealanders) also there are places that look more attractive like Australia, or going to the United States.” “Or the United Kingdom,” Gordon said.
