POPULATION TRENDS

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 14, 13 August 1945, Page 6

POPULATION TRENDS

Although the returns for the 1945 census are not yet complete, those already in show the general trends. For census purposes, there are four distinct areas of population distribution : cities, town districts, boroughs, and counties. From the figures available, two general trends can be observed ; that the urban drift is increasing, and that there is a considerable drift from the South Island to the North Island. A detailed comparison is instructive. The greatest area of increase is the North Island city, 25 per cent, larger than in 1936, against the South Island city, with a 7 per cent, increase. Next comes the town district, showing in the North Island an increase of 20 per cent., testifying to what may be regarded as a new phenomenon, the suburban drift. It implies also greater transport facilities enabling people to live some distance out of a city, yet within reach of their work. Town districts in the South Island have remained stable, pointing to a similar stability in enterprise, and therefore of transport facilities. Boroughs in the North Island have increased by 11 per cent., in the South Island by 5 per cent. In the county area the discrepancy is more marked, the North showing an increase of 3 per cent., the South a decrease of 8 per cent. From these rough estimates it is clear that there is no major departure from trends which have been noticeable for some time. It was thought that in the South Island the shifting population implied a change in the proportions of town to country, but it appears from these figures that town and country dwellers alike are finding the North more attractive.