New Zealanders continue to flock to Australia, with annual departures accelerating to a record 53,000 last month.
New Zealand lost 39,100 people to Australia in the 12 months ending February 29, 4100 of whom left in the month of February alone, Statistics New Zealand said today.
That's the biggest annual net loss to Australia, as just 13,900 people crossed the Tasman to live in New Zealand. Most people moving both ways were New Zealand citizens.
People have been quitting New Zealand for Australia for years as they seek higher wages and a better standard of living and in 2008 the National Party won office campaigning on a promise to stem the outflow.
Against all nations, New Zealand lost a seasonally adjusted net 400 migrants in February, taking the annual outflow to 4100.
New Zealand has lost more migrants than it gained in 11 of the past 12 months, since the deadly February 22 earthquake in Christchurch.
The number of short-term visitor arrivals fell 3.4 percent to 259,000 in February from the same month a year earlier, as fewer Chinese and Hong Kong residents visited due to the earlier Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.
On an annual basis, short-term visitors rose 2.3 percent to 2.6 million people.
