- Bloomberg
WELLINGTON: About one in every six New Zealanders lives overseas, putting the nation among those with the largest diasporas, according to research by the Treasury Department.
There are about 915,000 people born in the country now living abroad, the Treasury said in an analytical note.
The domestic population is slightly more than 5.3 million, according to recent estimates, meaning about 15% of New Zealanders are internationally domiciled.
“There are nearly a million diasporic birth citizens, but the true number of people living overseas with rights to return will be much larger,” the Treasury said.
They will include those born overseas to New Zealand parents who can claim citizenship by descent and those who were once granted residence but have moved overseas, it said.
Because New Zealand is an isolated country at the bottom of the world, it is common for young adults to do an Overseas Experience or so-called “OE” for a couple of years before coming home.
The nation’s diaspora is comparable with Ireland’s but lags European nations that have more than 20% of their citizens abroad.
Treasury officials prepared the note as part of work on long-term fiscal projections, and said the diaspora represents both a contingent asset and liability.
Those who return from their OE are an important source of tax revenue, it said.
In 2023, 35% of those aged 40 to 44 years had spent at least some years overseas but they paid 42% of personal tax collected from that age group. — Bloomberg
