First baby: How her future NZ might look

What will tomorrow's New Zealand look like for Jacinda Ardern's baby daughter? The city she was born in will be warmer, more populated, and even more expensive. Photo / File

It's tough to picture precisely what growing up in tomorrow's New Zealand will be like for children born today - let alone the child of a prime minister.

But projections tell us one thing's clear; it will be a much different to the one we know now.

By the time Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford's daughter begins her first day at school, global research agency Quantumrun predicts artificial intelligence (AI) will be transforming society, and censuses will be using big data technology.

In 2023 when Earth's population is approaching the 8 billion mark, the number of people in New Zealand would have risen from 4.7 million to somewhere between 4.9 million and 5.3 million, while the median age will be slightly older, at 37.5.

Her society will be even more diverse, with New Zealand's Maori, Asian, and Pacific populations growing faster than Pakeha because of a combination of younger ages, higher birth rates and migration.

By 2023, the number of Asian people would likely make up 18 per cent of the population, overtaking Māori's share of our ethnic make-up.

Also by that year, some parts of Auckland will have swollen in residents: Hobsonville's population might have ballooned by nearly 250 per cent over the previous decade, while the number of central city residents could rise by half.

Auckland's already unaffordable housing - the median home value in her bustling suburb of Sandringham currently costs around $1.1m - could become further out of reach, with a sector group predicting prices could double by the mid to late 2020s.

The first couple's daughter will step into a learning environment where virtual learning will have become part of class, thanks to a now bedded-in digital curriculum.

Her school experience could include emerging technologies like augmented and mixed reality, AI and big data, with lessons accessed through the cloud, and classrooms' devices, lighting and heating all fed into a single "internet of things".

By the time she turns 7, the country could be well on its way to achieving its goal of saving our native birds from pest predators, having found a breakthrough capable of taking at least one of them out of the picture.

But her days could be warmer.

If the world's greenhouse gas emissions would have continued at today's rate, the hottest year on record globally in 2015 could be an average year by 2025.

Hopefully, New Zealand would be well on track to hitting its goal of a carbon-neutral 2050, having begun to expand its forestry, phase out fossil fuel-sourced hearing and electricity, and electrify its light vehicle fleet.

The Government, along with many companies, could now only be using pure EVs - but it's still unlikely they'll be driven only by a computer that soon.

When she's celebrating her 21st birthday, the world would have changed yet more dramatically.

AI-driven automation would have rendered many of today's human jobs redundant, while performing roles like helping doctors diagnose patients, picking dates, or even cooking dinners.