CHB council chief executive Monique Davidson says people are awakening to the fact that CHB is a beautiful part of the country to live. Photo / File
CHB council chief executive Monique Davidson says people are awakening to the fact that CHB is a beautiful part of the country to live. Photo / File
Hawke' Bay's population has officially passed 160,000 for the first time amid the greatest between-censuses growth in New Zealand history.
But the rate of increase revealed in provisional results of the 2018 Census — at 10 per cent over five years — is not expected to continue. Accordingto economic analyst Sean Bevan, it is likely to revert to somewhere between the average annual increase of 1.9 per cent and the 0.3 per cent of the seven years between the censuses of 2006 and 2013.
According to figures released last week the usually resident population on Census night March 6 last year for the region from Wairoa to Central Hawke's Bay was 166,368, which compared with 151,179 in the next most recent Census, which had been deferred from 2011 to 2013 because of the Canterbury earthquakes.
The 10 per cent increase over the last five years, the highest rate of increase in the lower North Island, compares with a nationwide increase of 10.8 per cent, a regional high of 18.1 per cent in Northland, and, of neighbouring regions, 8.9 per cent in Gisborne Tairawhiti and 7.2 per cent in Manawatu-Whanganui.
While the total maintained Hawke's Bay's position as the ninth most-populated of the 16 regions, there was a pointer to the housing crisis, with the number of occupied dwellings up by just a 13th-placed 4.4 per cent, which compared with a nationwide increase of 6 per cent.
Crowds packing the park - now the're packing the region, at 1.9 per cent more a year. PHOTO/FILE
Most notably in Hawke's Bay, the Census-night population for the city of Napier officially passed 60,000 for the first time, an 8.7 per cent increase taking the total to 62,241, while an 11.3 per cent increase takes the population for the Hastings District (a 1989 local government reforms merger of Hastings City, Havelock North Borough and most of Hawke's Bay County) passed 80,000 for the first time, to 81,537.
The urban area of Hastings, Havelock North and Flaxmere is thought to be still under 60,000.
The population in Central Hawke's Bay, including Waipukurau, Waipawa, Otane, Takapau and Porangahau, is up 11.2 per cent to 14,142, while the Wairoa District population is up 6 per cent to 8367, though still lower than the 2006 Census total of 8484.
The population of the Tararua District, which includes Dannevirke, Woodville, Pahiatua and Eketahuna and is part of the Manawatu-Whanganui area's Horizon's Regional Council territory, had risen 6.5 per cent to 17,943.
Bevan, who has not yet reviewed or analysed the details released by Statistics New Zealand, says they appear consistent with projections.
If population in Hawke's Bay continued to increase at the current average rate of 1.9 per cent a year, the population could reach 200,000 by the end of the next decade, but projections are for the count at that time to be closer to 180,000, and a population of 200,000 not being achieved until closer to the year 2050.
CHB council chief executive Monique Davidson was the first to respond publicly to the Census revelations, saying: "People are awakening to the fact that Central Hawke's Bay is a beautiful part of the country to live.
"The accessibility of our district, which is just 30 minutes from Hastings, or 50 minutes to the airport, means residents have options to live in Central Hawke's Bay but work regionally or nationally."
The population nationwide was put at almost 4.7 million, although the Statistics New Zealand population clock on Friday had the unofficial current count at 4,933,352, with a downward-revised projection that 5 million will be reached in 2020, after having earlier been calculated to reach that total late this year.
The first full Census in New Zealand was in 1851. Triennial for the first 30 years, the Census became five-yearly from 1881, a cycle that was broken by cancellations in 1931 due to the effects of the Great Depression and the Hawke's Bay earthquake, and 1941 because of World War II. The Canterbury earthquakes resulted in a Census scheduled for 2011 being deferred for two years.
