New Zealand’s changing face

The face of New Zealand is changing. Data recently released from last year’s national census show that the population of New Zealand is both aging and becoming more ethnically diverse.

If New Zealand’s 4.2 million people were reduced to a village of 100 people, then 70 people are of European ethnicity, 14 are Maori and 11 are Asian.

New Zealand’s immigration policies accept skilled people from wherever in the world they come. The diversity of international students is also an important contributor to the diversity of the population because many of them apply to stay on permanently, and the combination of study and work has seen New Zealand’s Asian community double in size since 2001, and Asians make up a quarter of the residents of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland.

During the seven-year period since the last census, the Filipino community in New Zealand has more than doubled in size and now makes up 1% of New Zealand’s population. Filipinos last year represented the fourth largest group of skilled migrants to New Zealand. In recent times, many Filipinos have been coming to help with the rebuild of Christchurch following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

The presence of a significant Filipino community in New Zealand is a positive force for the future of my country’s relationship with the Philippines. Typhoon Yolanda was one example of New Zealand’s growing interconnectedness with the Philippines, with numerous members of the Filipino community in New Zealand affected through family links to the disaster. But, more positively, a growing Filipino community in New Zealand translates into greater awareness by New Zealanders of the Philippines, its culture, its tourist attractions and also business opportunities. It has resulted in more people travelling between our two countries — a 9% increase last year — and in time this will lead to a direct air service that will take two-way trade and tourism to the next level.

At the same time as New Zealand’s population is becoming more ethnically diverse, it is also getting older. The median age of New Zealand’s population has increased from 28 to 38 since 1981. By contrast, the median age of the Philippine population is only 22.

Demographic trends in both countries help us to identify the challenges we must meet to improve the wellbeing of our people. New Zealand and other western developed economies need to boost growth in our economies to support growing populations of retirees.

As stated recently by Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, a growing Philippine population is not only a challenge but also an opportunity. Economically, this opportunity is the “demographic sweet spot” that has the potential to drive sustained economic growth that could see the Philippines fulfil HSBC Bank’s forecast of becoming the world’s 16th largest economy by 2050. For this to happen, though, it will be necessary to generate high quality jobs for a young and growing workforce.

My hope is that New Zealand will contribute towards sustained economic growth in the Philippines not solely by employing skilled Filipinos in our own country, but also by generating further trade and investment that creates jobs here in the Philippines.

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(Reuben Levermore is the Ambassador of New Zealand.)