Sri Lankan New Zealanders are New Zealanders of Sri Lankan heritage living in New Zealand. This includes at least three Sri Lankan ethnic groups in New Zealand: the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil and Burghers. Sri Lankans in New Zealand span over 140 years emigration. In 2013 there were 9,579 Sri Lankans in New Zealand.
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Early arrivals
The early arrivals who came to New Zealand from what was then British Ceylon were a few prospectors attracted to the gold rushes. By 1874 there were a mere 33 New Zealand residents born in Ceylon. Both New Zealand and Ceylon being part of the Commonwealth, New Zealand dutifully imported both people and commodities from Ceylon. After 1890, Ceylon began to surpass China as New Zealand’s supplier of tea. By 1901 the number of Ceylonese residents in New Zealand born in Ceylon had grown to 106.
20th century
After 1950, under the Colombo Plan, some students and trainees received education in New Zealand. Up until the late 1960s the number of New Zealand residents born in Ceylon remained static. As the demand for skilled professionals in New Zealand grew, it led to a noticeable increase in the number of immigrants around this time. Racial and economic tensions in Dominion of Ceylon, made worse after the declaration of the republic in 1972, also swelled immigrant numbers.
In 1983 the Sri Lankan Civil War began with Sinhalese political dominance being challenged by the militant Tamil Tigers, who sought a separate Tamil state within Sri Lanka. After the 1983 riots in Sri Lanka ushered in an extended civil war, many Sri Lankans, both Tamil and Sinhalese, fled Sri Lanka, and the number of arrivals from Sri Lanka to New Zealand and the Sri Lankan-born population in New Zealand rose dramatically.
Present
As during the 1980s New Zealand had relaxed its immigration policies towards Asians, it was seen as a welcoming destination and convinced them to emigrate permanently. Other Sri Lankans only found temporary employment in Africa and Saudi Arabia, intending to return to Sri Lanka. The number of arrivals continued to increase, and at the 2006 census there were over 7,000 Sri Lankans living in New Zealand.
Demographics
Sri Lankan New Zealanders comprised 3% of the Asian population of New Zealand in 2001. Out of the Asians, the Sri Lankans were the most likely to hold a formal qualification and to work in white-collar occupations. Sri Lankans mainly worked in health professions, engineering, business and property services, and the retail and manufacturing sectors, in large numbers. Most lived in Auckland and Wellington, with smaller populations in Waikato, Manawatu-Wanganui, Canterbury and others.