People leave New Zealand in record numbers in the 12 months through November

By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – (This Jan. 22 story has been corrected to say ’12 months through November,’ not ’12 months to November,’ in the headline and paragraphs 1, 2, and 8; to say ‘ended Oct. 30,’ not ‘ended October’ in paragraph 8)

People leaving New Zealand hit record levels in the 12 months through November 2024, in another sign of the weakness in the country’s economy that moved to a technical recession in the third quarter.

Data released by Statistics New Zealand on Thursday showed that 127,800 people left the Pacific nation in the 12 months through November, up 28% on the prior 12-month period. This was provisionally the highest number of people leaving in an annual period ever, according to the statistics bureau.

Of those leaving, more than 50% were New Zealand citizens, according to the data.

New Zealand, which has a population of just 5.3 million, has seen its economy struggle over the last couple of years as the central bank increased the official cash rate to dampen historically high inflation.

Michael Gordon, senior economist at Westpac, said that a lot of people come to New Zealand for work opportunities and when these dry up people leave.

“It’s about work opportunities, especially here (New Zealand) versus Australia. Australia’s economy is still running reasonably strongly,” Gordon said. “There are more opportunities over there now so we are seeing quite high outflows of Kiwis.”

However, people leaving does continue to be offset by inward migration.

Statistics New Zealand said net migration – the number of people moving to New Zealand permanently minus those leaving New Zealand – was at 30,600 in the 12 months through November 2024. Net migration peaked in the 12 months ended Oct. 30, 2023 at 135,700.

Gordon added that net migration was now back at historic averages and that over the longer term net migration would support the country’s economy.

“It’s something to keep in mind, that for a big chunk of the world, New Zealand is an attractive place to live, but also for us (New Zealanders) there are also places that look more attractive like Australia, or going to the U.S. or the UK,” Gordon said.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Michael Perry)