Asian Health

Asian Health

Census 2006 data indicates that New Zealand has an increasingly diverse population. Of the major ethnic groups, the Asian ethnic group grew the fastest between 2001 and 2006, increasing from 238,176 people in 2001 to reach 354,552 people in 2006 (an increase of almost 50 percent). Auckland was the most ethnically diverse region in New Zealand, with 18.9 percent with the Asian ethnic group.

The Asian ethnic group was New Zealand's fourth largest major ethnic group after European, Māori, and Other Ethnicity, totalling 354,552 people (9.2 percent) in 2006. There was a high proportion of young adults in the Asian ethnic group, with 3 in 10 people (31.0 percent) aged between 15 and 29 years. Two-thirds of people (66.1 percent or 234,222 people) who identified with one or more Asian ethnic group(s) usually lived in the Auckland Region. Almost 1 in 5 people (18.9 percent or 234,222 people) in the Auckland Region identified with one or more Asian ethnic group(s), the highest proportion of all the regions.

The seven largest Asian ethnic groups are Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Sri Lankan and Cambodian peoples.

Publications
Asian Health Chart Book 2006
The Asian Health Chart Book 2006 is one of a series of monitoring reports being produced by Public Health Intelligence, the epidemiology group of the Ministry of Health, on the health of different ethnic groups. It is the first report to provide comprehensive information on the health of Asian New Zealanders.

Asian Public Health Project Report

Mental Health Issues for Asians in New Zealand: A literature review (opens in a new window as a PDF, 701 kB)
This is a Mental Health Commission publication, prepared by the Migration Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Waikato.

For more information and summaries in Vietnamese, Chinese, Hindi, Khmer and Korean go to the Mental Health Commission website

Related website
Asian Health (www.asianhealth.govt.nz)

Page last updated: 1 November 2007