Wellington - New Zealand's resident Asian population will exceed the number of indigenous Maoris later this century, but its diversity and intermarriage will ensure survival of the country's unique Maori heritage, according to a report published on Monday.

Authors of the study also concluded that the growing Asian population would never threaten the supremacy of the majority white Europeans "and the primacy of their values, language, culture and way of life."

Asian immigration is a sensitive issue and commentators predict that the nationalist New Zealand First party will again use it in the campaign for the general election scheduled for later this year.

The report, published by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, noted forecasts that the number of Asians could nearly double from 404,000 in mid-2006 to 788,000 in 2006, just below the estimated Maori population of 818,000.

But demographers Richard Bedford and Elsie Ho, of the University of Waikato, said immigration from Asia, which has been greater in the last 20 years than at any time since Chinese joined the New Zealand gold rush in the 1870s, remained "relatively volatile, making it very difficult to project the size of a future Asian population."

One forecast says there could be 934,000 Asians in the country by 2026, more than the Maori population and double the projected 482,000 Pacific islanders. All would be outnumbered by nearly 3.5 million Europeans.

The report said that inside 20 years, the number of Asians would exceed Maoris in all age groups above 30-34, while there would be more Maoris of younger age because of their higher birth rate.

But the authors noted that unlike Maoris, there was no single ethnic Asian population - with 42 per cent Chinese, 30 per cent Indian and 30 per cent other ethnicities, according to 2006 data.

They said the Asian and Maori populations were becoming mixed through the increasing frequency of intermarriage.

With fewer than 1 million Maoris in the world and more than 4.3 billion Asians, it was inevitable that the Asian population would exceed the indigenous community in time, the authors said.

But they concluded, "New Zealand will retain its unique Maori heritage and this will be asserted much more powerfully in economic as well as cultural and social terms as Maori engage Asia in making their futures in the 21st century." (dpa)