Immigration is continuing to surge upwards with a record net gain of 70,588 people last year.

That compares with 64,930 in 2015, 50,922 in 2014 and 22,468 in 2013, meaning population growth from migration has more than trebled in the last three years.

China was the biggest source of migrants with a net gain of 10,310 from that country last year, although that was 1433 fewer than arrived from China in 2015.

But there was a big jump in the number of migrants from Hong Kong, with a net gain of 833 from that country last year, up 124 on 2015.

After China the biggest source of migrants was India with a net gain of 8899 residents from that country, well down from the 13,292 gain from India in 2015.

After that the biggest source countries were the UK 5588, The Philippines 4511 and South Africa 4297.

There was a net loss of 1818 New Zealand citizens last year and net gain of 72,406 citizens of other countries.

In total 127,305 people from all countries arrived in New Zealand on a permanent or long term basis last year, while 56,717 left on a permanent or long term basis, giving a net gain 70,588.

Of the 127,305 people who arrived in 2016, 41,576 were on work visas, up 10.1% compared to 2015, followed by 37,704 Australian and New Zealand citizens (who do not require visas) up 5.6% compared to 2015.

But there was a big decline in the number of students coming to this country to study, with 24,562 arrivals on student visas last year, down 11.9% compared to 2015.

That was mainly caused by a big drop in the number of students from India, with just 6702 student arrivals from India last year compared with 10,833 in 2015, a decline of 38.1%.

That followed a number of scandals which rocked this overseas student education sector last year.

There was also a big decline in the number of students coming from the Philippines, with numbers from that country dropping back to 1570 last year from 2123 in 2015 (-26%).

The falls in student numbers from India and The Philippines were partially offset by a 131.6% rise in student numbers from South Africa (1047 for the year) and and a 32.6% rise from Korea (704 for the year).

The latest migration numbers will bring little relief to the pressures that high population growth is putting on infrastructure and services such as housing, transport, education and health in Auckland, with a net population growth into the region from migration of at least 33,916 last year, compared to 29,979 in 2015 and 23,006 in 2014.

However the actual population gain in Auckland was probably closer to 40,000 last year, because another 14,283 people did not state where they intended to live when they arrived, and many of them would also have settled in Auckland.