Sikhism in New Zealand Sikhism in New Zealand The Sikh population in New Zealand more than doubled from 9,500 in the 2006 Census to 19,000 in the 2013 Census. Sikhism is currently the fourth largest non-Christian religion in New Zealand, behind Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Sikhism is a world religion with over 27 million followers worldwide, with majority of their population in Punjab, India. Indians started arriving in New Zealand at the end of the 19th century; most immigrants arrived from Punjab and Gujarat. Most Indians settled in Waikato, Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch. There is a significant history of many Punjabis being dairy farmers
Wellington Region the lowest percentage of machinery operators and drivers (4.1%) and the lowest percentage of labourers (7.1%). The region is second only to Auckland in many statistics related to breadth of ethnicity. In the 2006 census Wellington had the second-highest Asian population (8.4%, Auckland 18.9%) and the second-highest Pacific Islander population (8.0%, Auckland 14.4%). Around 25.3 percent of the Wellington region's population was born overseas, second only to Auckland (39.1 percent) and on par with the New Zealand average (25.2 percent). The British Isles is the largest region of origin, accounting for 36.5 percent of the overseas-born population in the region.