Canterbury is the fastest-growing region in New Zealand, amid a nationwide slowdown in population growth, according to new provisional figures from Stats NZ.
The region’s population grew by 1.1% or 7600 people in the year to June 2025.
Canterbury’s growth was driven largely by increases in Christchurch (which accounted for 52% of the region’s growth), Selwyn District (27%), Waimakariri District (10%), and Ashburton District (5%). Selwyn had the highest growth rate at 2.4%.
The population growth consisted of a provisional net migration gain of 5300, made up of 3700 people moving from other parts of New Zealand and 1600 overseas arrivals, as well as a natural increase (births-deaths) of 2300.
Canterbury came in ahead of Auckland and Waikato, which each grew by 1.0%.
“Lower net migration gains in the June 2025 year led to slower population growth across all regions,” Stats NZ population spokesperson Victoria Treliving said.
New Zealand’s overall resident population grew by 0.7% to reach 5.3 million, a drop from 1.7% growth in 2024 and 2.3% in 2023.
For the first time since 2013, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, natural increase made a larger contribution to population growth than net migration.
Nelson and Marlborough provisionally decreased in population by 0.3% in the June 2025 year, while Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay populations also dropped 0.1%.
Wellington and Taranaki regions had almost no change in the total population.
Auckland’s population passed 1.8 million, growing by 17,700 people. While it had the highest net migration gain (6,300), this was significantly lower than the previous year’s figure of 32,000.
Stats NZ said Auckland’s growth was supported by a natural increase of 11,400 and an international migration gain of 9500, which offset a net internal migration loss of 3200.
Treliving said the six slowest-growing regions all experienced net migration losses.
“Net migration is the difference between migrant arrivals and migrant departures. It includes both internal migration, where people move within New Zealand, and international migration, where people move to or from New Zealand,” she said.
