Source: Statistics New Zealand
Otago population – a changing landscape – news story
29 July 2026
As more people move to the Queenstown-Lakes and Central Otago districts, the centre of Otago’s population is shifting west, according to data released by Stats NZ.
“As of June 2025, 52 percent of the Otago population lived in Dunedin city, while a further 21 percent lived in the Queenstown-Lakes district,” population estimates and projections spokesperson Kim Dunstan said.
“This is very different to 1996, when 64 percent of Otago residents lived in Dunedin and just 8 percent in Queenstown-Lakes.”
By the 2050s, less than half of Otago’s population could be living in Dunedin, and nearly 40 percent in either the Queenstown-Lakes or Central Otago districts (according to Stats NZ’s medium projection).