Movers
The proportion of the people who stated that they lived elsewhere in New Zealand five years earlier steadily increased over the period 1986 to 2006.
In 1986, less than 45 percent of those of Asian ethnicities stated that they had moved in the previous five years. By 2006, the proportion who had moved in the previous five years was almost 58 percent. Proportionally, the greatest increases in mobility have been in the age groups aged 35 years and over. More than half of the 45–49 year age group, for example, had moved in 2006 compared with less than 27 percent 20 years earlier in 1986.
Figure 1
Although people of Asian ethnicities living in New Zealand were on average more mobile than the total New Zealand resident population, people aged 35 years and over were more mobile overall than average while those younger than 35 years were less mobile.
Figure 2
Age and sex of movers
Almost 58 percent of people of Asian ethnicities who had lived in New Zealand for more than five years had moved at least once in that time. These movers tended to be among the young adults who were completing education and moving into employment. Many of the people in the older age groups who moved were parents moving with their children, as well as families who had relatively recently migrated and were relocating within New Zealand.
Figure 3
Age and sex of movers from overseas
People of Asian ethnicities who were overseas five years ago include people who are new migrants as well as people returning to New Zealand. The dominant feature of this group is the large proportion who are in their late teens and early twenties and are predominantly tertiary students, most of whom are Chinese and Korean. Alongside this feature of student arrivals is the inflows of families and of skilled migrants throughout the other age groups.
Figure 4
Age and sex of non-movers
People of Asian ethnicities who did not move between 2001 and 2006 tended to be parents families with children in secondary education. The adult non-movers were concentrated in the middle adult years with relatively many fewer non-movers in their late twenties and early thirties. Associated with these adult non-movers were younger teenage children in secondary education ages. One of the striking features of Asian non-movers is the larger number of adult women, many of whom are partnered to people who were not of Asian ethnicities.
Figure 5
