.svg) | |
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 53,406[1] 1.07% of the total New Zealander population (2023) | |
| Languages | |
| New Zealand English • Punjabi Hindi • Urdu • Māori | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 2,061 | — |
| 1996 | 2,817 | +36.7% |
| 2001 | 5,199 | +84.6% |
| 2006 | 9,507 | +82.9% |
| 2013 | 19,191 | +101.9% |
| 2018 | 40,908 | +113.2% |
| 2023 | 53,406 | +30.6% |
| [2][3] | ||
| Part of a series on |
| Sikhism |
|---|
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New Zealander Sikhs number over 53,000 people and account for 1.1% of New Zealand's population as of 2023, forming the country's fastest-growing and fifth-largest religious group. New Zealand has the world's third-largest Sikh proportion behind Canada (2.1%) and India (1.7%). While there are Sikhs in all sixteen regions of New Zealand, over half of Sikhs lived in Auckland Region in 2018.
The first Sikhs arrived in New Zealand in 1890,[4] but the Immigration Act of 1899 prevented any large-scale migration.[5][6] In 1987, racial exclusion was scrapped and a race-neutral, points-based immigration system was introduced;[7] by 1991 there were 2,061 Sikhs in New Zealand. Between 2013 and 2018, the number of Sikhs grew by 113% from 19,191 to 40,908, making Sikhism the fastest-growing religion and on pace to eclipse Islam and Buddhism by 2023 at the time.[1][8] However, the crackdown on student visas and low-skilled workers starting in 2017 stifled Sikh population growth.[9] Between 2018 and 2023, the New Zealander Sikh population grew by 31%, failing to eclipse Islam and Buddhism although remaining the fastest-growing religion.[1]
- ^ a b c "Totals by topic for individuals, (NZ total), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ^ Table 28, 2006 Census Data – QuickStats About Culture and Identity – Tables Archived 2017-10-11 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "2013 Census totals by topic". archive.stats.govt.nz.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Singh, Phomenwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "1881–1914: restrictions on Chinese and others". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- ^ Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1367/19th-century-indian-immigrants.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Immigration Act 1987". New Zealand Legislation. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ^ "Sikhs in New Zealand have quadrupled in number since 2006". October 3, 2019.
Sikhism is booming faster than any other major religion in New Zealand, having more than doubled its number of followers here since 2013 – and more than quadrupled since 2006. [...] About 41,000 Sikhs now live here, according to the latest census figures. Sikhism has fewer followers in New Zealand than Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. But if all five faiths keep growing (or shrinking) at the same rates they did between 2013 and 2018, Sikhs will overtake Buddhists and Muslims in population by the next census.
- ^ "Sikhs in New Zealand have quadrupled in number since 2006". October 3, 2019.
But Labour's crackdown on low-skilled migrants and those on student visas, in 2017, had a major impact on Sikh migrants, he said. And Dr Singh doesn't expect the religion will have doubled in size again by 2023, due to "the main avenues of entering the country being shut".