Nelson Region · New Zealand
Nelson population
54,400people · latest figure
Nelson has a population of 54,400, making it the 16th largest place we list in New Zealand. It is in Nelson Region.
Nelson holds 1.0% of New Zealand's 5,287,479 people. Auckland, the largest place we list there, is 28 times its size. Twenty years earlier the World Gazetteer recorded 45,841, a rise of 19%.
The 2005 figure comes from the World Gazetteer archive restored on this site. The two sources may draw the settlement's boundary differently, so treat the change as indicative rather than exact. Why figures differ.
Nearby in size
| Place | Region | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Porirua | Wellington Region | 61,500 |
| Invercargill | Southland | 58,000 |
| Papatoetoe | Auckland | 56,010 |
| Whangarei | Northland | 50,900 |
| Whanganui | Manawatu-Wanganui | 49,200 |
| Upper Hutt | Wellington Region | 47,400 |
Figures are the latest available in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), which draws on national censuses of varying dates — treat them as recent, not same-year. Country totals are UN World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant) where the UN lists the country separately; the handful it reports under a parent state keep a GeoNames figure and are marked as such. Sources & method.