Fordlands is a western suburb of

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

in the

Bay of Plenty Region The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway ...

of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. The area is named for Harry Ford, whose model dairy farm became the suburb. It was described in 2017 as the most deprived suburb in New Zealand. The suburb was an inspiration for the novel ''

Once Were Warriors ''Once Were Warriors'' is New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel, published in 1990. It tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and portrays the reality of domestic violence in New Zealand. It was the basis of a 199 ...

'' by

Alan Duff Alan Duff (born 26 October 1950) is a New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the author of the novel ''Once Were Warriors'' (1990), which was made into a film of the same name in 1994. Biography Alan Duff was bor ...

Demographics

Fordlands covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Fordlands had a population of 2,460 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 342 people (16.1%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 153 people (6.6%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 723 households, comprising 1,164 males and 1,296 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.9 males per female. The median age was 28.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 711 people (28.9%) aged under 15 years, 570 (23.2%) aged 15 to 29, 969 (39.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 210 (8.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 34.4% European/

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

, 67.8%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, 14.1% Pacific peoples, 6.2%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 1.1% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 10.6, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 49.8% had no religion, 35.7% were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 7.7% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 0.2% were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 0.2% were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 0.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 162 (9.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 417 (23.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $19,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 63 people (3.6%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 726 (41.5%) people were employed full-time, 234 (13.4%) were part-time, and 243 (13.9%) were unemployed.

References

{{Rotorua District Suburbs of Rotorua Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region