Mid Canterbury is a culturally diversifying and ageing population according to the latest census data.

It also had a moderate 4% population growth of 1323 people since the last Census in 2018.

Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown said the 2023 Census data released last week only confirmed what the Ashburton District Council was already aware of.

“We know the population is ageing with the number of over-65s getting up and the younger ones aren’t coming through, and it’s happening New Zealand-wide.”

As the trends were already evident the council is already taking action he said.

The number of older adults (65 and over) rose 14% making up a fifth of the population and the council has been planning for an ageing population Brown said.

Most recently it started rebuilding 16 elderly housing units.

“We had to get rid of the old ones because they weren’t up to healthy home standards and we could have chosen not to replace them but we are looking at our ageing population who are on a lower income.”

The new library is also catering to the older population as a meeting place, Brown said.

There are also a lot of older people utilising the EA Networks Centre pools and around town the council introduced a special over-80s parking permit that allows for extended parking times in the council carparks he said.

The council is also assisting Safe Communities Ashburton to develop an Age Friendly Strategy.

A steering group, which has deputy mayor Liz McMillan as a member and councillor Carolyn Cameron appointed as the council’s representative, has a funding application to the Office for Seniors to get a needs analysis completed, with the council providing a letter of support.

“We have had a letter back, with the Minister interested to come and see what we are doing in that space.

“People come into the district for the lifestyle and like to retire here because it’s a great place to retire.”

There is an age-drain with a 3.6% decrease in the 15-29-year-old population and a 1.4% drop in under-15s.

The council is taking action to try to retain the school leavers investigating developing a learning hub, Brown said.

That work is collaborating with secondary and tertiary providers in the district to determine what is on offer now and what could be offered to train and retain the young people in the district.

When it comes to the growing cultural diversity in the district, Ashburton has been a leader Brown said.

The council developed a welcoming communities plan in 2017 which has been recognised nationally and replicated in other districts.

The council also provides some funding to the Hakatere Multicultural Council enabling them to run newcomers network and migrants programs he said.

The Ashburton district population growth increased by 4% since 2018 to 34,746.

Looking within the district, Methven’s population increased 11.1% to 1,977 and Rakaia’s rose 9.6% to 1578.

To the north, the Selwyn District was the fastest-growing district in the country, with the largest increase in population (29%) to be home to 78,144 people.

The number of people that ticked the European ethnicity was 28,185, a 0.6% increase.

The population of people of Māori descent rose 12.3% to 3,744, but the number who ticked Māori as their ethnicity was only 3,000 (a 9.9% increase).

The number of people identifying as Asian rose 32.9% (3273) and Pacific islanders rose 22% (2097).

The broad ethnic grouping of Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African rose 12.1% (471).

By Jonathan Leask