Nearly a million people living in Aotearoa New Zealand identify as Māori and that number is likely to pass the million mark by 2033, according to Stats NZ’s latest estimated figures.
As of June 2025, around 932,000 people identified as Māori – or 18% of the country’s population. Sean Broughton, Stats NZ’s population and housing spokesperson said that’s expected to rise to 20% by 2048.
“Our Māori ethnic population is growing at a faster rate than Aotearoa New Zealand’s population overall, mainly because of higher-than-average birth rates combined with a younger age structure.”
Between 2012 and 2025, Māori births averaged about 17,000 a year and, as those born since 2000 reached childbearing age, that could exceed 19,000 by the late 2030s.
Inter-ethnic partnering has also added to the growth in numbers – about one-quarter of Māori births were from non-Māori mothers with Māori fathers.
“Identifying with multiple ethnicities is common for Māori,” Broughton said. “Children and parents of Māori ethnicity will often identify with other ethnicities.”
Figures from the 2023 Census showed that 59% of the Māori ethnic population identified with other ethnicities:
- 53% identified with European ethnicities
- 11% identified with Pacific ethnicities
- 2% identified with Asian ethnicities
- 0.4% identified with Middle Eastern/Latin American/African ethnicities.
Ethnicity is a self-determined cultural affiliation, and ethnic populations overlapped because people can and do identify with multiple ethnicities, according to Stats NZ.
There were almost 5000 Māori deaths in the June 2025 year. That figure was projected to gradually increase as people grew older – the same as other ethnic groups.
In terms of aging, the 65+ aged Māori ethnic population was anticipated to increase from 75,000 in 2025 to around 180,000 in 2048.
The number of those aged 40 to 64 years was likely to grow “significantly” from 230,000 in 2025 to around 370,000 in 2048.
The median age for Māori ethnicity continued to climb although it was still younger than the overall New Zealand population. It was likely to increase from its current age of 28 to 35 in 2048. In 2006 it was 23 and 20 in 1991.
That compared to the overall New Zealand population median age at 38, likely to climb to 43 in 2048.
Stats NZ also produced reports on Māori descent population based on whakapapa.
As of June 2023, people living in Aotearoa New Zealand of Māori descent was at 1,036,000 compared to the Māori ethnic population of 911,000 at the same date.
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