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National | Ngāi Tahu

Youthful population for Māori

On census night in 2013, 598,605 people identified themselves as Māori, up by 5.9% from 2006.

It's no surprise that Ngāpuhi remains the largest tribe in the country, while Ngāi Tahu and Tainui have had the biggest increase of descendants since 2006.

However, Te Arawa numbers have declined by 15%.

Stats show that the Māori population is a youthful one.

The median age is 23, in stark contrast to the median age for the rest of the population, which is 38.

In education, 36,000 Māori hold a bachelor's degree qualification or higher. This number was a huge leap, up 56% from 2006.

However, Māori unemployment rates still seem to be high, currently at 15% up from 11%. The West Coast has the highest number of unemployed Māori.

Statistics NZ will be rolling out more census stats over the next coming months, which will no doubt help build a clearer picture of how Māori are living in their country.