High migration rate comes amid 'brain drain' concerns
The number of New Zealand citizens leaving the country hit a new record of 52,500 in the year ended March 2024, according to the latest data from Stats NZ.
Tehseen Islam, population indicators manager, said this is the first time that New Zealand's net migration loss surpassed 50,000.
"That equates to 1,000 more New Zealand citizens departing long-term than arriving long-term each week," Islam said in a statement.
Source: Stats NZ
Michael Gordon, senior economist at Westpac NZ, noted that departures among New Zealanders have been increasing over the past years.
"Departures of New Zealanders have been on a strong upward trend since early 2022, probably reflecting a catch-up on delayed plans," Gordon said in a statement.
Mark Smith, ABS Senior Economist, also attributed the departures to "pent-up demand" for travel after COVID.
"New Zealanders love to travel and explore, so there certainly is a lot of pent-up demand for New Zealanders who were stuck at home during the COVID years to go offshore and now looks to be a very good time for them do so," Smith told The Platform NZ.
The data also comes amid concerns that New Zealand could suffer from a potential brain drain amid more attractive job offers overseas. According to Stats NZ, migrants aged 18 to 30 years old accounted for 39% of the departures in New Zealand.
"Based on the latest estimates available, just over half of these migrant departures went to Australia," Islam added.
Smith acknowledged that those who leave New Zealand tend to be "more highly skilled," but noted that many of them will also likely return.
"Those people, many of them will return as New Zealand has other things to offer," he said. "When New Zealanders go offshore, things like the lure of family and New Zealand's reasonably good, relaxed lifestyle are major carrots for them to return."
However, overall net migration gain is at 111,100 in the March 2024 year, thanks to non-New Zealand citizens entering the country. Stats NZ said 163,600 non-New Zealand citizens, mainly from India, the Philippines, China, and Fiji, entered the country.
"While the current annual net migration gain of non-New Zealand citizens is below the peak in late-2023, it is still high by historical standards," Islam said.
New Zealand recently recorded near-record migration of 173,000 for non-New Zealand citizens in 2023. Amid concerns that this could put some New Zealanders out of work, the government announced that it is tightening its immigration settings.
