‘It felt like bad news after bad news’: why record numbers are leaving New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. Record numbers of people are leaving the country amid cost-of-living pressures, with more than half of the recent departures heading to Australia. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock

When New Zealand opened its borders after the pandemic, the departures began immediately. For Kirsty Frame, then a 24-year-old journalist for the country’s national broadcaster in Wellington, the sense of loss was constant.

“It was goodbye dinner after goodbye dinner, leaving drinks after leaving drinks, and I think that started to take a toll.”