Recent migrants are more likely to feel biased against compared to people who are born in New Zealand or have been in the country for more than five years, research shows.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Stats NZ's General Social Survey showed about 26 percent of newer migrants felt discriminated against in the past 12 months.
That compared to about 16 percent of long-term migrants and people who were born in New Zealand.
The research also found that newer migrants were more trusting of other people and felt safer than the other two groups.
Recent migrants were more likely to feel safe using or waiting for public transport, and when walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark.
This was particularly the case for people aged 25 to 44, who made up two-thirds of the recent migrant group, Stats NZ said.
When using public transport at night, 57 percent of recent female migrants said they felt safe or very safe compared with 30 percent for New Zealand-born women.
The differences in feeling safe between women and men were also smaller for recent migrants when compared with people born in New Zealand.
The type of neighbourhood people lived in also had a strong association with how safe people felt: people from poorer areas were less likely to feel safe - 32 percent of recent migrants lived in the most deprived areas in New Zealand.
That compared with 27 percent of long-term migrants and 29 percent of New Zealand-born people living in these areas.
"Recent migrants always felt safer than other people living in the same area, regardless of how deprived the area was," Jason Attewell from Stats NZ said.
"This could be because some recent migrants feel New Zealand is a safer place to live than where they originally came from."