IMMIGRATION FIGURES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28889, 8 May 1959, Page 7

IMMIGRATION FIGURES

Volume Of Census Series

“In the 1881 census, half of the population was New Zealand-born. The proportion of New Zealandborn to overseas-born increaszd continuously from that time until, at the 1951 census, 86.3 per cent, of the population was born in New Zealand,” said the Government Statistician (Mr J. V. T. Baker).

He was announcing that volume six of the 1956 census of population series, “Birthplace and Duration of Residence of Overseas Born” was now available. “Between the last two censuses, however, increased immigration, both private and Governmentassisted, caused a very slight increase in the proportion of over-seas-born—from 13.7 per cent, in 1951 to 14.3 per cent, in 1956. The number of immigrants assisted by the New Zealand Government in the five years ended March 31, 1956, was 28,300—23,000 of these were British aind 5300 Dutch,” said Mr Baker.

“The birthplace of a person does not always signify his nationality or ethnic group,” he said. “For instance, the majority of those skewing Indonesia as their birth-place are Dutch, and those showing Rumania and Turkey as their birth-place. Greek. On the whole, however, birthplace is an indication of nationality, and the data collected give an interesting picture of the different immigrant groups.

“The Jugoslav and Chinese residents in New Zealand belong to an earlier period of immigration, and those born in the Netherlands, Western Samoa and Fiji are among the most recent immigrants. The age structure and sex proportions of immigrant groups naturally differ from those of the New Zealand-born population. A general feature of the overseasborn people is the higher proportion falling within the adult agegroups,” said Mr Baker.

He said that on the whole males out-numbered females in the immigrant population. This was most true of those born in Jugoslavia, Denmark, China, and the Netherlands. In the case of those born in Germany, Fiji, South Africa, the Cook Islands and Australia, there were fewer males than females in 1956. In the New Zea-land-born population there was an almost equal ratio, with slightly more females.