New Zealand's population grew by more than 55,000 last year.
Statistics NZ says that's the highest growth in five years and brings the total number of residents to almost 4,347,000.
The agency says the key reason for the growth was that permanent and long-term arrivals outstripped departures by 21,300.
Analyst Joel Watkin says the job situation used to prompt people to leave New Zealand, but that's changed.
The number of people born exceeded the number of deaths by 33,900.
