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The number of New Zealanders identified as Maori has increased more over the past century, according to a new analysis of census data.
Statistics NZ researcher Rosemary Goodyear says in 1911 the Maori population was just 50,000, but at the 2013 census it was almost 600,000 in 2013.
Over the same period the total population increased by only 300 percent in this same period.
Dr Goodyear says higher fertility rates and lower infant mortality had a lot to do with it, but there were also changes in the way identity is measured.
"They used to collect on degrees of blood, so you said you were Maori, Maori-European etc. Now if people say they are Maori, European and Pacific they will be counted in three places, so we know we have more Maori, particularly younger, who are other ethnic groups as well, but overall the Maori population has increased a lot." she says.
The data also shows the Maori home ownership rate down to 28 percent in 2013, down from 32 percent at the 2001 census, and compared with a total home ownership rate of about 50 percent.
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