| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 861,576 people (2023) 17.3% of New Zealand's population[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Waikato | |
| Languages | |
| New Zealand English · Asian languages | |
| Religion | |
| 34.0% No religion 26.8% Christianity 16.8% Hinduism 6.2% Buddhism 5.7% Sikhism 5.7% Islam[2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Asian Americans · Asian Australians · Asian Britons · Asian Canadians · Asian people |
Asian New Zealanders are New Zealanders of Asian ancestry (including naturalised New Zealanders who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). At the 2023 census, 861,573 New Zealanders identifying as being part of the Asian ethnic group, making up 17.3% of New Zealand's population.[3]
The first Asians in New Zealand were Chinese workers who migrated to New Zealand to work in the gold mines in the 1860s. The modern period of Asian immigration began in the 1970s when New Zealand relaxed its restrictive policies to attract migrants from Asia.