Amid the rigorous debate taking place in New Zealand over the efficacy of its world-beating immigration program, FT Alphaville’s Matthew C Klein has produced a ripper report on New Zealand immigration, which shows that the current rate of immigration is the highest in the nation’s history:
With net immigration explaining around 62% of the total growth in New Zealand’s population since the end of 2012, compared with 33% of New Zealand’s population growth since the start of 1996:
Klein then goes on to explain how roughly half of the recent population increase has come from net migration with Australia (i.e. fewer departures and more arrivals):
With the level of migration to/from Australia highly correlated with movements in commodity prices:
All of which makes policies to stem the flow of immigrants problematic given the open access between the two countries.
The full report can be accessed here for free following registration.
