Auckland::  The ethnic Asian population in New Zealand is growing faster than any other in the country, reveals the latest census.

The number of Asians has increased by 48.9 percent since 2001 to 354,552, according to the census. Experts believe that at the current rate Asians will outnumber the indigenous Maori population in the next 20 years.

An influx of immigrants from Asia and the Pacific Islands helped push the population of New Zealand to 4,027,947 on census day 2006 in March.

Europeans now make up 67.6 percent of the population, followed by Maoris with 14.6 percent.

Those who identified themselves as "New Zealanders" - a new option on census forms - made up 11.1 percent of the population, according to New Zealand Herald newspaper.

Census results also showed the population of New Zealand was continuing to get older, with the median age now close to 36 as opposed to 35 in 2001 and 33 in 1996.