Patterns of Maori migration in New Zealand

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Abstract
There were an estimated 125,000-175,000 Maoris in New Zealand at the time of European arrival in 1767 (Pool 1964, 232), but by 1896 there were only some 42,000. The decline is usually associated with the Maori’s lack of immunity to introduced illnesses: it was accompanied by a retreat to the least fertile and least accessible areas of the country’s North Island. Since 1896, the Maori population has been increasing again, at a spectacular rate since 1926 (table 20.1). The later years of this period of demographic rejuvenation have also produced a large-scale redistribution of the Maori, mainly towards a few urban centres: the time lag was undoubtedly a product of the crippling economic depression of the 1930s. The present paper charts the salient features of this redistribution since 1951, based on census and electoral roll data; both are unsatisfactory sources, but there are none better available.

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