Heading to the UK is a longstanding rite of cultural passage for many Kiwis. People like my youngest son, who will be visiting Britain for the first time this autumn, are a big part of the tradition. But so is returning home again.
New migration figures are putting paid to that last bit. Record numbers of New Zealanders appear to be picking up sticks and decamping from the Antipodes, and a lot of them aren’t bothering with return tickets.
It may be that New Zealand’s charms are wearing thin
What the ultimate cost of this is for their nation remains something of an open question, but for now the numbers are ‘just phenomenal’, says Brad Olsen, an economist with the Wellington-based company Infometrics.
In its latest data, Stats NZ reports an unprecedented net migration loss in the year to April 2024 of 56,500 citizens. That’s a far higher number even in absolute terms – let alone an island nation a thirteenth of the population size – than last year’s net migration of 37,000 British nationals from the UK.
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