WELLINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand statistics Minister James Shaw said here on Monday that the country's population would reach 5 million in the year of 2020, according to the first release of 2018 Census data.
"At recent population growth rates, we can expect to reach 5 million people sometime next year, up from 4 million in 2003," Shaw said.
The first release of data on Monday includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand.
Data from the 2018 Census will support the setting of electorate boundaries, and population-based government funding decisions.
"I'm highly confident that the 2018 Census data will support the key uses of census information," Shaw said on Monday.
"More generally, the Census is a snapshot of our society at a point in time. It helps us to understand how our society is changing and plan for the future," he added.
As to the percentage of the population ethnicity, there was no change in the top five ethnicities between the 2013 and 2018 Censuses: New Zealand European (64.1 percent), Māori (16.5 percent), Chinese (4.9 percent), Indian (4.7 percent), and Samoan (3.9 percent).
The first release of Census 2018 data on Monday will be followed by a series of further releases in coming months, with all data released by the middle of 2020.
