Wellington - More than 100 New Zealanders emigrated to neighbouring Australia every day in the 12 months ending March 31, according to official statistics released on Monday.

A total of 38,738 citizens left the country permanently to settle in Australia, the biggest number since 2001, Statistics New Zealand said.

When the number of New Zealanders returning home from Australia is taken into account, there was a net outflow of 30,219 in the year.

Net immigration from all countries for the 12 months 4,678, down from 12,081 in 2006/07.

Britain continued to provide the biggest number of immigrants, as it has done since 2005, with 6,894 in the 12 months to March, though this was down from 10,235 the previous year.

India was the next biggest contributor with 4,159, up from 2,536 in 2006/07, followed by the Philippines with 3,262, up from 2,714. There were 2,500 immigrants from Fiji, 2,100 from South Africa and 1,900 from China, which had been the biggest single source of new settlers from 1996 to 2004.

Opposition parties blamed policies of the Labour Party-led coalition government, which has been in power since 1999, for the mass emigration to Australia where wages are higher. (dpa)