Immigration is once again shaping up as a hot political issue leading up to November’s General Election, but a twist this time around is that emigration – the number of people leaving the country long-term – is likely to be just as big an issue as immigration – the number of people arriving.
The issue of high levels of emigration was most recently raised by Labour leader Chris Hipkins in his State of the Nation speech on February 23.
“Every week, another 2000 New Zealanders leave the country because they can’t see a future here,” Hipkins said.
“Nearly 240,000 people have left the country in the last two years,” he added.
What Hipkins didn’t say is that the current great exodus of people leaving New Zealand long-term actually began under the last Labour Government, and really built up a full head of steam in 2023, during Labour’s final year when Hipkins himself was Prime Minister.
According to Statistics NZ, the number of people leaving long-term increased steadily under the last Labour Government, rising from 54,600 in 2020, to 70,409 in 2021, 94,540 in 2022 and 101,932 in 2023.
That trend continued under the current National-led government, with long-term departures rising to 118,525 in 2024 and 119,814 in 2025.
The most concerning component* of that exodus is the number of New Zealand citizens leaving the country long-term. This also increased steadily under the last Labour government, rising from 15,334 in 2020, to 65,792 in 2023.
It then increased slightly under the current national-led Government to 67,221 in 2024 before dropping back slightly to 66,309 in 2025.
Looking back a bit further (the Stats NZ figures go back to 2001), neither Labour nor National have exactly covered themselves in glory when it comes to outflows of New Zealand citizens.
The peak outflow since 2001 occurred under John Key’s National Government in 2011 when 71,187 NZ citizens left the country long-term, with another 70,697 following them out the door in 2012.
Labour’s record isn’t much better, with 65,288 NZ citizens departing under Helen Clark’s Labour-led coalition in 2007 and another 68,131 leaving in 2008.
So, although the departure of high numbers New Zealanders for supposedly more attractive opportunities overseas remains a concern, it is hardly a new phenomenon, and it’s one that would be difficult for both Labour and National to claim the high moral ground on with any credibility, based on their respective track records.
*Total departures: The figures quoted by Hipkins in his speech, are made up of both NZ citizens and non-NZ citizens – such as those who have been living in this country on residence or work visas or Australian citizens.
