In the most recent New Zealand census, in 2018, 70.2 per cent of the population identified as European and 16.5 per cent as Māori. Other major pan-ethnic groups include Asians (15.1 per cent) and Pacific peoples (8.1 per cent). Middle Eastern, Latin American and African ethnicities constitute a small remainder (1.5 per cent) of the population. When completing the census people could select more than one ethnic group and this list includes all of the stated ethnic groups if more than one is chosen.

New Zealand's ethnic diversity can be attributed to its history and location. For example, the country's colonisation by the UK is a core reason for its Western values and culture.

Terminology The New Zealand census invites respondents to identify with an ethnic group.

There are six major ethnic groupings: European New Zealanders (Pākehā) are a European ethnic group. It includes New Zealanders of European descent, European peoples (e.g. British, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, German, Russian, Italian, Greek), and other peoples of indirect European descent (e.g. Americans, Canadians, Australians and South Africans,). Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Pacific peoples (Pasifika) originate from other islands in the Pacific, including from the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau, all of which are dependent states of New Zealand, as well as other places like Tuvalu, Palau, The Pitcairn Islands and Fiji. Asian New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group deriving from various nations in the Asian continent, such as Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese or their descendants. Middle Eastern, Latin American, African (MELAA), and Caribbean ethnicities constitute a very small remainder of the population. "Other" is a grouping of ethnic groups which do not fit into the other five top-level ethnic groups.

Handling multiple ethnicities Many respondents identify with multiple ancestries. Outputting data on multiple ethnicities is normally handled one of two ways: total response or prioritised ethnicity. For this list, the total response method is used.

Total response counts people of multiple ethnicities in each ethnic groups in which they identify. While this shows all the people that identify with a particular ethnicities, the sum of all ethnic group populations adds to more than the total population. For example, a person who identifies as New Zealand European and Māori would be counted twice, once under each ethnicity, under total response output.

Prioritised ethnicity counts people with multiple ethnicities in the highest-priority single ethnic group in which they identify. The order of priority for ethnicity, from highest to lowest, is Māori, Pacific peoples, Asian, MELAA, other and European. While it has the advantage that the sum of all ethnic groups equals the total population, the preferential order can cause ethnic groups to be overrepresented or underrepresented, and may categorise a person differently from their self-identified primary ethnicity. For example, a person who identifies as New Zealand European and Māori would be counted under the Māori ethnic group under prioritised ethnicity output. +Comparison of different methods of handling multiple ethnicites, 2023 census dataEthnic groupSingle/combinationTotal responsePrioritisedNumber%Number%Number%European2,790,35455.93,383,74267.82,790,35455.9Māori366,0157.3887,49317.8887,49317.8Pacific peoples277,0025.5442,6328.9348,9577.0Asian782,64615.7861,57617.3831,40216.6Middle Eastern/Latin American/African72,5881.592,7601.985,9861.7Other44,7630.956,1331.149,6231.0European–Māori409,4018.2European–Pacific58,2151.2European–Asian44,1420.9Māori–Pacific44,7960.9Two ethnic groups, not elsewhere included37,4460.7European–Māori–Pacific43,9080.9Three ethnic groups, not elsewhere included19,4010.4Four or more ethnic groups3,2340.13,2340.1Total responses4,993,923100.05,724,336114.64,993,923100.0Total population4,993,923100.04,993,923100.04,993,923100.0

Ethnicities Only ethnicities with 1,000 or more responses at the 2023 census are included individually: Code Ethnicity Ethnic group Responses 20132018202311111 New Zealand European European 2,727,0093,013,4403,099,85821111 Māori Māori 598,605775,836887,49342100 Chinese Asian 163,101231,387259,75543100Indian Asian 143,520221,916255,26131111Samoan Pacific 144,138182,721213,06941111Filipino Asian 40,35072,612108,29733111Tongan Pacific 60,33382,38997,82432100 Cook Islands Māori Pacific 61,07780,53294,17612114English European 38,91672,20468,51712948South African European European 28,65637,15548,93061118 New Zealander Other 65,97345,33042,68444311 Korean Asian 30,17135,66438,94434111Niuean Pacific 23,88330,86734,94412211Dutch European 28,50329,82030,94812811Australian European 22,46729,34930,59136111 Fijian Pacific 14,44519,72225,03843112 Fijian Indian Asian 10,92915,13223,80810000 European European 26,47234,63221,83412116 Irish European 14,19317,83521,26112119Scottish European 14,41218,62719,76744211Japanese Asian 14,11818,14119,48812943American European 12,33916,24518,60612711German European 12,81016,81817,56552100 Latin American MELAA 5,6229,79815,86144111 Sinhalese Asian 1,0179,17114,43641311Vietnamese Asian 6,66010,08614,15741415Thai Asian 8,05210,62312,85840000 Asian Asian 4,62311,81112,64512100 British European 36,02411,60712,02141211Cambodian Asian 8,6019,67211,51451100 Middle Eastern MELAA 4,3808,26810,24535111Tokelauan Pacific 7,1738,6769,82252113Brazilian MELAA 2,8686,6639,21643116SikhAsian2131929,11161117Other South AfricanOther2556,8168,91912945Canadian European 5,8717,7978,91044411Afghani Asian 3,4175,2508,72112924 French European 4,5937,6778,45141000 Southeast Asian Asian 1,2726,2198,23542116Taiwanese Asian 5,7156,5708,16344414Pakistani Asian 3,2616,1358,09412935Russian European 5,9797,7138,04041412Indonesian Asian 4,1376,0337,61444413Nepalese Asian 1,5903,6306,94837144Tuvaluan Pacific 3,5374,6536,58512611Italian European 3,7985,3526,44453100African MELAA 6,8227,2216,40212949AfrikanerEuropean1,1977896,06942113 Malaysian Chinese Asian 1,8484,8665,86512121Welsh European 3,7084,9715,72451115Iranian/Persian MELAA 3,1984,4255,61344100Sri Lankan Asian 9,561 4,2455,10041414Malaysian Asian 4,7973,7294,79737124Kiribati Pacific 2,1153,2254,65944112Sri Lankan TamilAsian7323,5014,22143115PunjabiAsian3244594,15252114Chilean MELAA 1,6862,8864,08312511 Croatian European 2,6732,9463,60944412 Bangladeshi Asian 1,6232,3373,55242111Hong Kong ChineseAsian2223,1773,50141411 Burmese Asian 2,1872,4753,45312411 Polish European 2,1632,8713,36012939 Spanish European 2,0432,7733,16212941 Swiss European 2,3882,6492,88052111ArgentinianMELAA7261,8242,82612311 Greek European 2,4782,4752,82353127Other ZimbabweanMELAA1,0682,76051117 Israeli/Jewish MELAA 1,3531,8542,75751112 Arab MELAA 2,9192,9942,64012999 European European 2,6371,9682,56212920 Danish European 1,9862,2142,49651116 Iraqi MELAA 2,5832,6882,49053119 Somali MELAA 1,6171,7012,37643119South African IndianAsian1,6322,34030000 Pacific Peoples Pacific 1,026 2,7242,27152115ColombianMELAA6541,6202,22641499Southeast Asian Asian7231,6382,22361199Other ethnicity Other1504,0172,16312942UkrainianEuropean8521,2812,15153121Ethiopian MELAA 1,2421,6352,15112940Swedish European 1,4011,9112,12737140Tahitian Pacific 1,4071,7372,01952123MexicanMELAA7111,4251,96512919 Czech European 1,0831,7401,95353199 African MELAA 1,1581,0051,92951120Lebanese MELAA 1,0441,2781,87841413 Laotian Asian 1,3741,6081,86051114 Egyptian MELAA 1,1101,5331,85412926Hungarian European 1,3651,6381,78851127TurkishEuropean9571,3201,77912932PortugueseEuropean9421,3651,74661113Indigenous AmericanOther7501,2781,62312950 Zimbabwean European European 1,6171,8721,49742112Cambodian ChineseAsian1321,4131,46712933 Romanian European 1,4521,4851,43712931NorwegianEuropean8101,1311,41053115NigerianMELAA2916361,36512514Serbian European 1,0561,2841,34712913Austrian European 1,0291,2721,33837138RotumanPacific7839811,32344416 Eurasian Asian 1,3651,3891,29637135Papua New GuineanPacific8071,1311,29053118CaribbeanMELAA8071,0471,28437112Indigenous AustralianPacific4537951,16137145Ni VanuatuPacific4929901,16141417ChinAsian8341,11051113Assyrian MELAA 1,4971,2931,10153116African AmericanMELAA5108551,08343114Indian TamilAsian3003151,07499999 Not specifieda 230,6460 nfd – Not Further Defined (insufficient data to classify the response further) nec – Not Elsewhere Classified (when no category exists for the response) a – Includes Don't Know, Refused to Answer, Response Unidentifiable, Response Outside Scope and Not Stated MELAA – Middle Eastern, Latin American and African

Ethnic groups by area

Ethnic groups by regional council area, 2023 census By region Region European Maori Pacific Asian Other Num. % Num. % Num. % Num. % Num. % Num. % Northland 141,594 73.0 72,612 37.4 9,486 4.9 9,345 4.8 1,263 0.7 2,208 1.1 Auckland 825,144 49.8 203,544 12.3 275,079 16.6 518,178 31.3 44,718 2.7 15,144 0.9 Waikato 357,624 71.7 125,574 25.2 26,139 5.2 60,792 12.2 7,146 1.4 5,742 1.2 Bay of Plenty 240,087 71.9 102,387 30.6 14,202 4.3 29,262 8.8 3,954 1.2 3,558 1.1 Gisborne 28,905 56.5 28,029 54.8 2,841 5.6 1,968 3.8 381 0.7 468 0.9 Hawke's Bay 128,415 73.3 50,076 28.6 10,902 6.2 11,361 6.5 1,398 0.8 2,118 1.2 Taranaki 105,366 83.6 27,411 21.8 3,234 2.6 7,215 5.7 699 0.8 1,719 1.4 Manawatu-Whanganui 196,431 78.1 63,177 25.1 12,522 5.0 19,329 7.7 1,836 1.0 3,339 1.3 Wellington 378,429 72.6 80,613 15.5 47,349 9.1 79,314 15.2 11,934 2.3 5,823 1.1 North Island 2,401,995 63.1 753,423 19.3 401,754 10.6 736,764 19.3 74,166 1.9 40,119 1.1 Tasman 52,416 90.7 5,745 9.9 1,509 2.6 2,298 4.0 435 0.8 915 1.6 Nelson 44,544 84.7 6,252 11.9 1,485 2.8 4,533 8.6 714 1.4 705 1.3 Marlborough 42,450 85.9 7,344 14.9 1,821 3.7 2,667 5.4 738 1.5 744 1.5 West Coast 29,964 89.7 4,491 13.5 540 1.6 1,335 4.0 180 0.5 723 2.2 Canterbury 522,498 80.3 69,060 10.6 23,868 3.7 86,430 13.3 10,299 1.6 8,205 1.3 Otago 205,224 85.2 23,910 9.9 8,274 3.4 20,379 8.5 5,211 2.2 3,207 1.3 Southland 84,195 84.1 16,848 16.8 3,351 3.3 7,152 7.1 1,014 1.0 1,509 1.5 South Island 981,291 82.8 133,650 10.5 40,848 3.4 124,794 10.5 18,591 1.6 16,008 1.4 New Zealand3,383,74267.8887,49319.8442,6328.9861,57617.392,7601.956,1331.1

In images

By territorial authority and Auckland local board