The latest 2018 population Census data has been released and Wairoa’s population is on the climb with some interesting changes to ethnicity data as well.

According to the 2018 Census data, Wairoa’s population increased by 477 (8,367) when compared to the 2013 census (7,890).

And what is even better news, the Wairoa District ‘Estimated Resident Population’ for 2019 is 8,680. This is an estimated increase of 790 compared to 2013 and 313 compared to 2018.

Mayor Craig Little says this is really positive news, and that we’re all moving in the right direction, but we all need to continue to work hard to encourage our whanau to come home and to welcome new residents into our district to see Wairoa’s population continue to increase.

“With the environment we find ourselves in, now more than ever, it’s important that we push forward to see our population continue to grow.”

“The effects of the Covid-19 lockdown will likely see our local economy contract and it would be great if more of our whanau returned home, to establish sustainable businesses and to help us build our local economy and support good social enterprise in Wairoa.”

“We were told that we couldn’t do it, but look at us, we’ve grown our population by almost 500 people and this is because we as a whole community did this.”

“The 2018 Census also shows that two thirds (66.9%) of our people in Wairoa identify as Maori compared to just over half (58%) in 2013. This is not surprising given the great work being carried out by iwi and whanau.”

“We know we are a culturally rich community. Many of our whanau left to go to the big cities, but now more than ever, they are returning home for work life balance, to raise a family and to connect back to their papa kainga.”

“This has been a whole of community effort and we need to continue the hard work to grow our population even more.”

“There was real concern when the last Census was being done as it was done online. We were all concerned that Wairoa being one of the most disconnected communities in the country in terms of internet access, that our numbers would be skewed because many of our people would not be able to complete the Census online.”

“But with the combined efforts of people like our Councillors and the staff at the Wairoa Taiwhenua, computer hubs were set up to support our whanau tom come in and complete the Census.”

“I know a lot more could have been done and we would have probably shown that our numbers are even better, but this demonstrates to me that when our community comes together and we mobilise as a whole community, that we can create some great outcomes.”

“I knew we could do this, and I’m so proud of our whole community for coming together to work towards a common goal of growing our population and making Wairoa a great place to live.”

Source: https://profile.idnz.co.nz/wairoa/population 

6 May 2020

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