18 August 2006

Numbers up for New Zealand

New Zealand's population gained 1,400 new immigrants last month as the country continues to attract more and more migrants.

There was a net permanent and long-term (PLT) migration gain of 12,100 people in the July 2006 year, Statistics New Zealand said today.

This is up on the net gain of 6,900 people in the July 2005 year. The increase was due to 2,100 more PLT arrivals and 3,100 fewer PLT departures.

PLT arrivals exceeded departures by 1,300 in the month of July 2006, compared with an excess of 100 more departures than arrivals in July 2005. The seasonally adjusted series recorded a net PLT inflow of 1,400 in July 2006, compared with a net inflow of 1,200 a month earlier.

There were 167,000 short-term overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand in July 2006, down 1,500 (1 percent) from July 2005. More visitors came from the United States and China in July 2006, but fewer from Japan and the United Kingdom and Ireland, compared with the previous July.

Seasonally adjusted monthly visitor arrivals were down 4 percent in July 2006, following a rise of 2 percent in June 2006.

In the year ended July 2006, there were 2.376 million visitor arrivals, down 22,700 (1 percent) from the July 2005 year.