Education Counts

Page navigation links

  • Education Counts Logo
  • Skip to Primary Navigation Menu
  • Skip to Secondary Navigation Menu
  • Skip to search
  • Skip to content

Site Search

Site Search

Site navigation menus

  • Know your region
  • Find your nearest school
  • Early learning services
  • Directories
  • Publications
  • Statistics
  • Topics
  • Data Services

Search the education counts website

Find pages with

Narrow results by:

North Island

  • Northland Region
  • Auckland Region
  • Waikato Region
  • Bay of Plenty Region
  • Gisborne Region
  • Hawke's Bay Region
  • Taranaki Region
  • Manawatu-Wanganui Region
  • Wellington Region

South Island

  • Tasman Region
  • Nelson Region
  • Marlborough Region
  • West Coast Region
  • Canterbury Region
  • Otago Region
  • Southland Region

Chatham Islands County

Districts in Canterbury Region

  • Kaikoura District
  • Hurunui District
  • Waimakariri District
  • Christchurch City
  • Selwyn District
  • Ashburton District
  • Timaru District
  • Mackenzie District
  • Waimate District
  • Waitaki District

Canterbury Region

Home Close Menu
  • Know your Region
    • Region Summary
    • Student Population
      • Year Level
      • Age
      • Trends
    • Early Childhood Education
    • Student Engagement
      • Stand-downs
      • Suspensions
      • Exclusions
    • Retention
    • School Qualifications
      • NCEA level 1
      • NCEA level 2
      • NCEA level 3
      • Vocational Pathway Awards
    • Progression to Tertiary
      • Qualification Level
      • Institution Type
    • 18-Year-Old Attainment
      • Age
      • Trends
    • Finances
    • Technical Notes / Definitions
  • Find your nearest school
  • Early Learning Services
  • Directories
  • Publications
  • Statistics
  • Topics
  • Data Services

Student Population: Trends

The Ministry uses school roll data in a number of ways: to fund and staff schools; to support policy analysis, development, and decision making; to monitor the outcomes of the New Zealand education system; and for national and international reporting purposes.

The roll data presented here is based on the 1 July roll returns.  The data includes gender, ethnic group, funding year level, and age.  A small amount of trend information is also available.

Identical information is available for the region's territorial authorities using the drop down menu above.  For other territorial authorities first choose the appropriate region from the drop down menu above.

Alternatively a large amount of roll data is available from our statistical pages.  See July School Roll Returns.

Roll by ethnic group and gender, as at 1 July (2021 to 2025)
Group 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Māori 15,328 15,625 15,984 16,443 16,677
Pacific 5,817 5,975 6,248 6,737 6,934
Asian 12,961 13,709 15,554 18,276 19,783
MELAA 2,679 2,813 3,085 3,385 3,555
Other 843 833 927 994 1,038
European/Pākehā 74,579 74,045 74,167 74,211 73,655
International 616 368 832 1,085 1,214
Female 48,700 48,506 49,463 50,925 51,414
Male 50,370 50,181 51,212 52,700 53,005
Another gender/not stated n/a n/a 189 162 102
Total 99,070 98,687 100,864 103,787 104,521

Notes:

  1. Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
  2. MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African) students.
  3. 'n/a' = not applicable as Another gender/not stated was not collected prior to 2023.
  4. 'x' = less than 5 students in Another gender/not stated, or if left unmasked the data may lead to deducing other masked values.

Site information

  • Site map
  • Contact us
  • About this site
  • Glossary
  • Copyright, Legal & Privacy
  • Links
  • © Education Counts 2026
  • Ministry of Education logo.
  • New Zealand Government logo.
Scroll to top of page