 | |
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 53,406 [1] 1.07% of the total New Zealander population (2023) | |
| Languages | |
| New Zealand English • Punjabi Hindi • Urdu • Māori | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 2,061 | — |
| 1996 | 2,817 | +36.7% |
| 2001 | 5,199 | +84.6% |
| 2006 | 9,507 | +82.9% |
| 2013 | 19,191 | +101.9% |
| 2018 | 40,908 | +113.2% |
| 2023 | 53,406 | +30.6% |
| [2] [3] | ||
| Part of a series on |
| Sikhism |
|---|
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New Zealander Sikhs number over 53,000 people and account for 1.1% of New Zealand's population as of 2023, forming the country's fastest-growing and fifth-largest religious group. New Zealand has the world's third-highest Sikh proportion behind Canada (2.1%) and India (1.7%). While there are Sikhs in all sixteen regions of New Zealand, over half of Sikhs lived in Auckland Region in 2018.
Contents
The first Sikhs arrived in New Zealand in 1890, [4] but the Immigration Act of 1899 prevented any large-scale migration. [5] [6] In 1987, racial exclusion was scrapped and a race-neutral, points-based immigration system was introduced; [7] by 1991 there were 2,061 Sikhs in New Zealand. Between 2013 and 2018, the number of Sikhs grew by 113% from 19,191 to 40,908, making Sikhism the fastest-growing religion and on pace to eclipse Islam and Buddhism by 2023 at the time. [1] [8] However, the crackdown on student visas and low-skilled workers starting in 2017 stifled Sikh population growth. [9] Between 2018 and 2023, the New Zealander Sikh population grew by 31%, failing to eclipse Islam and Buddhism although remaining the fastest-growing religion. [1]
