high as previously stated.
Since New Zealand abolished departure cards at border security in late 2018, Statistics NZ has been using a new method to calculate whether people are short-term visitors or migrants.
However, earlier week the organisation revealed that in the early months of its new calculations it was missing the link between arrivals and departures for around 1 in every 1000 border crossings. Or around 15,000 out of around 15 million border crossings.
Consequently. Statistics NZ has re-estimated its net-migration figure for the the year to May 2019 to 46,100 – around 9,400 lower than it previously estimated.
Since then migration has continued to ease. Current estimates suggest that in the year to 30th November the net annual gain from migration had fallen to 41,500, the lowest in more than five years.
Throughout 2019 economists had begun openly questioning the accuracy of the Statistics NZ migration figures, with several organisations predicting that the estimates were likely to be downgraded.
Article published 24th January 2020