More households projected in all regions

All 16 regional council areas of New Zealand are projected to have more households in 2031 than in 2006,according to projections released by Statistics New Zealand Friday.

This is based on the 'medium series' ofthe 2006-base subnational family and household projections. By comparison, the population of threeregional council areas is projected to be smaller in 2031 compared with 2006.The higher growth rate in the number of households compared with the population is due to a projecteddecrease in average household size for all regional council areas and territorial authorities.

This reflects anincreasing proportion of one-person households and a decrease in the average size of family households.

These trends are driven mainly by the general ageing of the population.

Average family size is projected todecline largely because of an increase in the proportion of 'couple without children' families (which containtwo people) and a decrease in the proportion of 'two-parent' families (which contain about four people, onaverage).

The Auckland region is projected to account for almost half of the national increase in households between2006 and 2031, increasing from 466,000 to 726,000.

Over the same period, it is projected to account for 62percent of New Zealand's population growth.

By 2031, 35 percent of all households in New Zealand will bein the Auckland region, up from 30 percent in 2006.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
17 July 2009
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See also the Hot Off The Press information release Subnational Family and Household Projections:2006(base)–2031