Ashburton District

Ashburton District is a territorial authority district in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It encompasses the town of Ashburton, a number of small towns and settlements and the surrounding rural area, roughly coterminous with Mid Canterbury. The district had a population of as of . Geography Ashburton District extends from the Pacific Ocean to the Southern Alps, and from the Rangitata River to the Rakaia River, including the towns of Methven, Mount Somers, and Rakaia. The Hakatere Conservation Park covers a large area of the lower mountains, including Mount Hutt skifield, popular tramping area Mount Somers / Te Kiekie and the Ashburton Lakes. Demographics Ashburton District covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Ashburton District had a population of 33,423 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 2,382 people (7.7%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 6,051 people (22.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 12,996 households. There were 17,016 males and 16,407 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.04 males per female. The median age was 39.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 6,810 people (20.4%) aged under 15 years, 5,937 (17.8%) aged 15 to 29, 14,697 (44.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 5,982 (17.9%) aged 65 or older.