Asians lead growing ethnic diversity in New Zealand

New Zealand now has more ethnic groups than there are countries in the world, with the Chinese and Indians joining the five largest groups in this year's census results, the government statistics agency announced Tuesday.

The five largest ethnic groups were New Zealand European, Maori, Chinese, Samoan and Indian, while the smallest included Greenlander, Sardinian and Latin American Creole, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Some of the biggest increases since the last census in 2006 came from groups within the broader Asian category, spearheaded by the Chinese, whose population rose by 16 percent to 171,000, Indian (up 48 percent to 155,000) and Filipino (more than doubled to 40,000).

"It's interesting to note that there are more ethnicities in New Zealand than there are countries in the world. What that tells us is that New Zealand is a diverse place and getting more so all the time," general manager 2013 census Sarah Minson said in a statement.

Increases in the largest Pacific ethnic groups were Samoan (up 10 percent to 144,000), Cook Island Maori (up 7 percent to 62,000) and Tongan (up almost 20 percent to 60,000).

New Zealand's resident population grew 5 percent to 4.24 million between 2006 and 2013.