May 18, 2020
Population passes 5 million
New Zealand's resident population has provisionally reached 5 million.
Stats NZ population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers says the mark was passed in March, with the country adding the fifth million in just 17 years.
She says net migration has been boosted by more New Zealand citizens returning home after living overseas because of COVID-19, and others unable or reluctant to head offshore.
Māori now make up 17 per cent of the population.
The figures will be revised once Census 2018 data is fully incorporated later in the year.
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