If you’re thinking of emigrating to New Zealand, you aren’t alone.

In fact, if your plan is to get away from other South Africans, you might be in for a bit of a surprise.

Economist Mike Schussler created a graph that shows just how many South Africans have decided to hop the pond and set up in the land of the Kiwis, which we’ll get to in a second.

First, BusinessTech breaks it down:

According to Schussler, the number of South Africans migrating to New Zealand increased fivefold from January 2014 to January 2019.

He added that the people leaving are typically skilled or have enough money to start a business – which means that South Africa loses out on valuable resources.

The graph – which peaks at 1 085 South Africans leaving in January 2019:

If you look at the latest data from Stats NZ, you’ll notice a sharp rise in South African migrants.

8,200 people moving to the country between April 2018 and April 2019.

StatsNZ classifies migrants as overseas residents who arrive in New Zealand and cumulatively spend 12 of the next 16 months in the country. The duration of stay is based on observed travel histories from linked arrival and departure records.

What this means is that roughly 683 South Africans migrated to New Zealand every month in the last year. That’s 22 people a day.

So why are so many people leaving the country?

South Africans choose to move to New Zealand for numerous reasons, most notably because its safe, is child-friendly, and for job opportunities.

Historically these South Africans have entered the country on residence and work visas, however, the data shows that there has also been an increase in student visa-arrivals in recent years.

A May 2018 report by American think tank, Pew Research, estimated that there are currently 60,000 South African migrants living in New Zealand at the end of 2017 – the fourth highest migrant population outside of South Africa.

Like I said, not the best place to move if your goal is to avoid other South Africans.

[source:businesstech]