People
The region had a usually resident population of 222,423 people at the 2006 Census, the fifth-largest population in New Zealand. The region has a lower than average population density, 10.3 people per square kilometre, compared with 13.1 for New Zealand. Between the 2001 and 2006 censuses the population rose by 1.6%, or 3,477 people.
There are two major urban areas in the region. Palmerston North, with an estimated resident population of 82,400, expanded as an educational centre and a supply centre for the surrounding rural hinterland. It became a city in 1930. The other major urban area is Wanganui/Whanganui, with an estimated resident population of 39,700 (June 2012 estimates). Other urban centres include Levin, Feilding, Dannevirke, Taumarunui, Foxton, and Marton.
City life does not dominate the region, as half the population live outside a large urban area, over a third in small towns or rural areas. While manufacturing has become an important part of the region's economy, most businesses are agriculturally based and agriculture remains the regional linchpin. The dominance of agriculture, combined with the relatively small scale of most urban areas, gives a rural quality to the region, quite distinct from neighbouring Wellington. The region's rugged interior has also become one of the main training areas for New Zealand's defence force, which maintain three bases in the region.
Read more about this topic: Manawatu-Wanganui Region
Famous quotes containing the word people:
“Avoid dishonest people and ill-gotten gains.”
—Chinese proverb.
“The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognised as love at all.”
—Iris Murdoch (b. 1919)
“The parents who wish to lead a quiet life I would say: Tell your children that they are very naughty—much naughtier than most children; point to the young people of some acquaintances as models of perfection, and impress your own children with a deep sense of their own inferiority. You carry so many more guns than they do that they cannot fight you. This is called moral influence and it will enable you to bounce them as much as you please.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)