South Canterbury's population increasing

Figures released by Statistics New Zealand on Monday showed the estimated resident population of the Timaru urban area at the end of June was 27,300, 100 more than the previous year.

And district-wide it was a similar story with 200 additional people being in the Timaru District, lifting the estimated population to 43,100.

In the early to mid-1990s Timaru was gaining 100 people a year out of overseas migration. That changed in the latter half of the 1990s when those leaving Timaru exceeded the number of people shifting here.

South Canterbury's population dropped 3 per cent in the five years to 2001.

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