WELLINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Annual net migration continued to fall steadily, down to a provisional net gain of 44,100 in the year ended December 2020, with COVID-19-related border and travel restrictions limiting migrant arrivals and departures since March, New Zealand's statistics department Stats NZ said on Tuesday.
"Monthly net migration since March 2020 is a trickle compared with levels seen in recent years and as a result, annual net migration is falling," population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said in a statement.
"Far fewer migrants arrived or left the country in 2020, compared with recent years," Islam said.
Migration estimates, available from 2001 onwards, show both annual migrant arrivals and migrant departures in the year ended December 2020 are the lowest of any annual period.
"We still have a net migration gain as migrant arrivals are higher than migrant departures," he said.
There were provisionally 85,800 migrant arrivals, and 41,600 migrant departures. As a result, net migration in the year ended December 2020 is provisionally estimated at 44,100, with 87 percent occurring in the first three months of the year, prior to New Zealand border and travel restrictions in March 2020, statistics show.
"Annual net migration ramped up before border closures and travel restrictions in March 2020 and has been falling away since then," Islam said.
Annual net migration reached a provisional peak of 94,900 in March 2020. This was due to many people who arrived in New Zealand being unable to, or choosing not to, return overseas as the COVID-19 pandemic developed, he said.
"With slowing net migration, New Zealand's population growth is lower than at any other time in the last seven years," Islam said. Enditem
