College reflects growing cultural diversity

College reflects growing cultural diversity

Kia ora, nī hāo, konnichiwa, bonjour, hola, talofa lava, mālō e lelei, bula, xin chào, hello, ciao, Привіт, kamusta, salom . . . there are plenty of ways you can greet someone now in Horowhenua.

That diversity of culture was evident for the annual Flag Day at Horowhenua College last week, where the flags of no fewer than 64 countries were paraded by students and staff with ties to those countries.

School principal Grant Congden says more flags are needed every year as the school welcomes new entrants from different parts of the world, this year adding Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan flags, among others.

“It’s fabulous,” he says. “Flag Day is a chance to represent your family, your whānau, your culture. It adds to the richness of who we are.”

That diversity was mirrored in data released on a new Stats NZ website from the 2023 census that shows a changing Horowhenua – and New Zealand – population. The population of Horowhenua in the 10 years between 2013 and 2023 increased from 30,096 people to 36,693, with all ethnicities increasing in number.

In that decade between censuses the number of people under the European heading in Horowhenua increased from 23,454 to 29,091, the number of Māori from 6486 to 10,149, Pasifika from 1380 to 2667, Asian from 954 to 1797, and Middle Eastern from 99 to 237.

The data shows 192 Australians living in Horowhenua, up from 138, Indian from 177 to 414, while the number of South Africans rose from 69 to 150.

Te reo is on the rise in Horowhenua and above the national average, with 5.8 percent of the population here speaking te reo compared to 4.3 percent throughout the rest of Aotearoa.

Meanwhile, the website provides useful information about individuals, families, extended families, households and dwellings, health, housing, transport and employment.

It allows for a region or suburb within a region to be compared against another region, or the national data, while also including a range of information specific to service iwi-Māori for the first time.

It shows that we’re older in Horowhenua, with a median age of 45.5 against the national average of 38.1.

The median income is $31,700 in Horowhenua against the national average of $41,500, while the region fares well in the home ownership stakes as 71.3 percent either own their own home of have it in a family trust compared with 66% nationally.