New Zealand population surging compared with trade partners
Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:
New Zealand's population is younger and growing at a faster rate than that of its main trading partners, China and Australia, according to figures from the government statistics agency on Tuesday.
The "New Zealand in Profile: 2015" document from Statistics New Zealand showed the population, though small at 4.51 million last year, was growing at 1.52 percent a year.
That was faster than those of the five countries for people visiting New Zealand: Australia (1.09 percent), China (0.44 percent), the United States (0.77 percent), Britain (0.54 percent), and Germany, where the population is declining by 0.18 percent annually.
New Zealand also had the highest proportion of its population aged under 15 years at 20.2 percent.
The document offered an overview of the country's people, economy, and government.
"We know people looking at moving to New Zealand want to know about the cost of housing and basic essentials, how much they might earn, and what the main industries are," deputy government statistician Colin Lynch said in a statement.
Other highlights showed that while an average loaf of white bread cost the same today as five years ago at 1.80 NZ dollars (1. 35 U.S. dollars), while a 400-milliliter glass of beer had gone up from 4.78 to 5.87 NZ dollars (3.60 to 4.41 U.S. dollars) in the same time. Endi