The number of foreign migrants coming to New Zealand continues to slowly but steadily increase but still remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
Statistics NZ estimates 5621 non-NZ citizens came to NZ long term in July, which was the sixth consecutive month their numbers have increased from a low point of 1639 in January.
However the number of non-NZ citizens leaving the country long term has also been rising over the last few months with an estimated 4425 departing in July.
That reduced the net gain to 1197 in July, which was the highest it has been since March 2020, when pandemic travel restrictions were first introduced.
By comparison, in July 2019, before Covid-19 appeared on these shores, there was a net gain of 6573 non-NZ migrants.
However there is still an overall loss of population from migration because more NZ citizens are leaving the country long term than are arriving back long term.
In July Statistics NZ estimates 2247 NZ citizens arrived back long term, which was the highest number since July last year, while 3820 departed long term, leading to a net loss 1573 NZ citizens for the month.
That pushed the net population change form migration to a net loss of 376 in July.
However those figures are early estimates by Statistics NZ which are subject to revision. But even allowing for potential revisions, some overall trends are apparent.
The figures suggest that the number of NZ citizens arriving into and leaving from this country are much closer to pre-pandemic levels than the figures for non-NZ citizens, but so far they do not suggest a mass exodus of NZ citizens, sometimes referred to as a brain drain.
Although the number of non-NZ citizens migrating to NZ remains very low, it is slowly increasing.
If current trends continue, it's likely that population change from migration will turn from a net loss to a net gain at some stage over the next few months.
SOURCE: Interest
