Wave of New Zealanders Leaving the Country Amid Rising Economic Strain

From young families to retirees, a growing number of New Zealanders are choosing to leave the country — driven largely by mounting economic pressures and the search for better opportunities abroad.

Harriet Baker, 33, was born and raised in Dunedin, South Island, and once couldn’t imagine leaving. “When we bought our home in Dunedin, I told my husband, ‘You’d have to carry me out in a coffin,’” she recalled. But now, the former civil servant is relocating to Australia with her husband, children, and dog, having just sold their home.

“The cost of living kept rising, and we were working flat out without getting ahead. It just felt like we were stuck,” she said. Her husband plans to work in the mining industry while she stays home with the kids — a move the couple once thought unimaginable due to their desire to raise their children in New Zealand culture, near extended family. “It’s heartbreaking to leave. But the income in Australia changed our minds.”

The Baker family is part of a growing exodus of New Zealanders seeking stability elsewhere, a trend that has demographers sounding the alarm. The movement spans all age groups — not just adventurous twenty-somethings but also working parents and retirees.

Between March 2024 and February this year, a record 69,100 New Zealanders left the country with plans to live abroad for at least a year — a 3% increase over the previous year and the highest level since 2012. “It’s surprising we’re not talking more about this,” said Paul Spoonley, a leading sociologist at Massey University. “Birth rates are falling, the population is aging fast, and we’ve seen consistent outmigration since the pandemic.”

Some regions, he warned, are already becoming depopulated and risk long-term decline. “The question now is: Will those who leave ever return?”

Although immigration still outpaces emigration overall, 2024 has so far marked New Zealand’s steepest net population loss in any calendar year on record. Around 56% of those leaving head to Australia, where average wages are roughly 26% higher.

For many in their 20s, moving to Australia is a rite of passage. But that group is now being joined by people in their 30s with children and by a wave of retirees — an unprecedented shift. “The key issue is where a family’s ‘anchor point’ lies,” said Spoonley. “When children, parents, and grandchildren all move, the entire family unit shifts location.”

Experts are also concerned about how this trend is impacting New Zealand’s labor force — especially after the government tightened immigration rules last year, reducing the influx of skilled migrant workers.

“The part of the workforce that typically carries the biggest load — those in their prime working years — is shrinking,” warned Shamubeel Eaqub, chief economist at investment firm Simplicity.

The reasons for leaving are familiar: a cost of living that far outpaces wages, high stress in under-resourced workplaces, and limited job prospects.

“I started in Te Kuiti on NZ$48,000 and never got a raise,” said Waikauri Hirini, 27, a former social worker. “The workload was overwhelming. I was burned out and knew I didn’t want to live like that anymore.” She moved to Perth to work in banking and reunite with three generations of family already settled there.

While many Kiwis are reluctant to leave, they feel they have little choice after years of financial struggle — a pattern seen across small towns nationwide. In Ohakune, a North Island ski town, the population has shrunk by nearly a third since 1996. Storefronts are shuttered, and “for sale” signs are everywhere, even as local iwi Ngāti Rangi urges residents to stay.

“It’s happening town by town, region by region,” said demography expert Tahu Kukutai.

The ruling National Party recently announced plans to slash NZ$1 billion in government spending to curb national debt. Some economists warn this could hamper recovery, while opposition leader Chris Hipkins has criticized the cuts, arguing they’ll push more young New Zealanders to leave. Tens of thousands of public sector jobs have been cut since 2023.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis pushed back on that critique, saying overall government spending is increasing and that the goal is simply to eliminate wasteful services. “We want more New Zealanders to choose to stay,” she said, adding that encouraging young people to remain is “a challenge that can be met by growing the domestic economy.”

“I’m deeply concerned if New Zealanders feel they don’t have a future here,” she said. “We want people to see this country as a place of opportunity — both economically and socially.”

But for those who have already left, the incentives to return aren’t always clear.

“We’re doing well in Australia,” said Hirini. “I used to be sad that I couldn’t raise my kids around the Māori language and culture. I thought about going back. But for what?”

Many now say they’ve found a better quality of life abroad.

“They actually pay well for good workers here,” said Daniel Reed, 38, who moved with his wife and three young children from a small North Island town to Townsville, Australia, last year. “We’re able to save around $1,000 every two weeks. Life’s just more comfortable — no more penny-pinching at the grocery store.”

Reed added that his kids love their new school and community. “They’ll always be Kiwis, but now they also sing the Australian anthem. I’m not even sure they remember the New Zealand one.”

(Sources: The Guardian, The Australian)

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