People are leaving New Zealand in record numbers as unemployment rises, interest rates remain high and economic growth is anemic, government statistics show.
Data released by Statistics New Zealand showed that 131,200 people departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2024, provisionally the highest on record for an annual period.
The data showed of those departing 80,174 were citizens, which was almost double the numbers seen leaving prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand’s economy is struggling after the central bank hiked cash rates by 521 basis points in its most aggressive tightening since the official cash rate was introduced in 1999.
