Total population 3,180,200

Press, 18 November 1981, Page 3

Total population 3,180,200

New Zealand’s total population at the 1981 census was 3,180,200, an increase of more than 1 per cent on the 1976 census. The number of people over the age of 61) has increased since the 1976 census ar.d at this year’s census this agegroup formed 14.1 per cent of the population, compared with 13 per cent in 1976, according to the Statistics Department. Women in this group outnumbered the men 251,790 to 195,830 this year. The largest age-group was formed this year by those aged 25 to 44, who are 26.6 per cent of the population, compared with 24.9 per cent in 1976. The second-largest age-group was those aged five to 14, who form 18.8 per cent of the population, a drop of 1.4 on 1976. Of the total on census night, 3,147,620 people were New Zealanders, of whom 85.1 per cent were born in New Zealand. People born in Australia formed 1.4 per cent of New Zealanders, a decrease of 12.5 per cent on 1976; those born in the Pacific Islands were 1.8 per cent of the total, an increase of 21.7 per cent; those born in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland were 8.3 per cent, a drop of 11.3 per cent; and those born in the Netherlands were 0.7 per cent, an increase of 1.4 per cent.