It’s the most asked question in casual conversation in Wānaka, how long have you lived here?

For 920 people the answer is fewer than 12 months. The new arrivals have pushed the Upper Clutha population to 17,290 as of June 30, 2023, according to provisional population estimates released by Stats NZ on Wednesday (October 25).

This is growth of 5.6 percent over the previous year which is slightly less than the average annual growth rate for the past ten years of 6.16 percent.

Population growth slowed due to Covid-19 with the area recording annualised growth of 3.07 percent from 2019 to 2023. For the period 2013-2019 the average annual growth rate was 7.72 percent (at a seven percent annualised growth rate the population doubles every 10.3 years). 

Lake Hāwea’s population surpassed 2,000 to record 2,020, an increase of 6.9 percent on the previous year, while Wānaka’s population grew 5.9 percent to record 10,460.

Albert Town recorded 2,380 residents, an increase of 4.4 percent over 2022 and Cardrona recorded a population of 820, an increase of 4.9 percent since 2022.

If Upper Clutha’s annual growth rate remains close to six percent the population will grow to 26,000 by 2030 and 46,500 by 2040.

The Queenstown Lakes district is now home to 52,800 people which is up eight percent on 2022 and 10,000 more residents than in 2018.

The population in the Whakatipu basin is 35,510, recording an annual growth rate of 9.2 percent. The Jacks Point suburban development recorded population growth of 34.7 percent.

The Queenstown Lakes district was the fastest growing territorial authority in the country in the last year, recording an eight percent increase driven by a net international migration gain of 2,500 people according to Stats NZ.

Nationally the population grew 2.1 percent (105,900) in the year ended June 2023 to record 5.22M people.

PHOTO: Wānaka App