This is my first blog after coming to New Zealand. It has
been a long time since I have come to this country to pursue a degree in
business administration to tick another box in my resume. The first time a
walked on Queen street, there was one thing which stood out which was about the
people in the city. Auckland is a multicultural city with people from various
different ethnicities and walks of life, moving through the hustle bustle of
the city. This is the key reason that in my first blog I am going to discuss
about the demographics of the country. Coming from communications background
this kind of information interest me. This can help a professional understand
more about the country and its people so that they can develop better marketing
plans.
New Zealand also known as Aotearoa in Maori is an island
country with a population of 4,536,606
(4.53 million) as of now while I am writing according to the population clock. Due to its remoteness from other countries,
it was one of the last countries to be inhabited. The island country has two
main islands known as North Island and South Island. The Polynesians settled in
New Zealand between 1250-1300 CE and the Europeans first sighted this country
1642 CE. Later on, the British signed the treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
If we look at a
population trend graph shown below as per the projection done in December 2010, we can see that by 2061 the population of
New Zealand is projected to reach the 6 million. It has been estimated basis
the fact that looking at the 50th percentile median projection which
reached approximately 4.5 million in 2014.
Looking at these
figures we can assume that there would be steady increase in the population.
One of the key benefits of an increasing population is a larger work force,
which can help in economic growth. Therefore, marketing and communication
professionals should keep in mind what are the brand imagery and values they
are adopting to strengthening their brand personality from the long term
perspective.
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| Figure 1 Population Trend |
Now if we look at
the 2013 census, we can tell the bifurcation of the various ethnicity in the total population. In addition, we can see the growth of these various ethnicity from the year 2001 to 2013. While Europeans form the major part of the
population, the next major population is the Maori population. However, the
2013 census was not able to bifurcate between the various minor ethnicity that form a major chunk of the population, equivalent to the total Pacific and Asian population.
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| Figure 2 Population Segmentation |
With a growing population New Zealand will also see a
amalgamation of people from different cultures and ethnicity. This is important
to understand as many of the major brands in the country currently are
communication with audiences using global brand campaigns. Some of the
international brands have already factored in the fact that they are talking to
audiences from various ethnicity. This could be seen in the way they have
adapted the cultural and behavioral nuances in their communication across
media. In the future it would become an imperative for organizations for
segment their audiences and understand the profile of the consumer better to
get the message across in a cluttered media environment.
In addition, Looking at the graph below, we can say that in
the past 12 years the growth of the total population and the Asian population
has been steady. In comparison, there was a sudden dip in the European
population in the year 2006.
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Figure 3 Ethnicity based population growth
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The overall population of New Zealand has been increasing at
a steady rate, with this growth will come many challenges too for marketers. In
a multicultural society it is not just about getting the message across, it is
also important to tweak the message to match wavelength of different consumers.
The digital wave might be making this seem possible but data needs to be constantly
analysed to get to the sweet spot, which can help develop effective
communication.
This write up is just to understand the very basic
statistical data of New Zealand population taken form www.stats.govt.nz. With this information, I would
like to hear from people who are new to the country or want to know more about the
demographics of the country. Moreover, if we dig deeper it can help media
professional to develop better plans. There are many statistical data sets available
on the world wide web which can help people in taking better strategic
decisions in their professions.
