Homeschooled students in New Zealand
As at 1 July 1998–2025, number of students
| Year as at 1 July | Number of students |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 4,909 |
| 1999 | 5,024 |
| 2000 | 5,506 |
| 2001 | 5,689 |
| 2002 | 5,852 |
| 2003 | 6,097 |
| 2004 | 6,187 |
| 2005 | 6,021 |
| 2006 | 5,882 |
| 2007 | 5,885 |
| 2008 | 5,901 |
| 2009 | 5,991 |
| 2010 | 5,915 |
| 2011 | 5,556 |
| 2012 | 5,531 |
| 2013 | 5,521 |
| 2014 | 5,555 |
| 2015 | 5,558 |
| 2016 | 5,837 |
| 2017 | 6,008 |
| 2018 | 6,298 |
| 2019 | 6,573 |
| 2020 | 7,192 |
| 2021 | 7,749 |
| 2022 | 10,899 |
| 2023 | 10,777 |
| 2024 | 10,757 |
| 2025 | 11,010 |
Definitions
Homeschooling: In New Zealand, all children aged between 6 and 16 years of age are required to enrol in and attend a registered school. Home education (or homeschooling) is where parents or legal guardians take responsibility for the education of their children, instead of enrolling them in school.
Data calculation/treatment
Numbers are sourced from the Ministry of Education's Homeschooling database and are as at 1 July.
Ethnicity data is collected as a multiple response. However, in these figures, each person is included only once in the total. People are allocated to one of the ethnic groups they have recorded that they affiliate with, according to a prioritisation rule. The order of priority is Māori, Pacifc Peoples, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African), other groups except European/Pākehā, and European/Pākehā.
Exclusions
Students enrolled at Te Kura (The Correspondence School) are not included in the homeschooling numbers.
Data provided by
Dataset name
Homeschooling: Number of Students by Time series 2025
Webpage:
https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/student-numbers/homeschooling
How to find the data
At URL provided, select 'Number of Students by Time Series 1998-2025' under the Summary heading.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Homeschooling: Number of Students by Time series 2025
From the dataset Homeschooling: Number of Students by Time series 2025, this data was extracted:
- Sheet: Regional Council
- Range:
B4:AC21 - Provided: 504 data points
This data forms the table Homeschooling - Students by region 1998–2025.
Dataset originally released on:
December 2025