Editing South Island (section)

=== Culture and identity ===
[[File:Christchurch_Skyline_2015.jpg|thumb|[[Christchurch]], the most populous city in [[South Island]]]]
[[File:Dunedin,_New_Zealand_at_night.jpg|thumb|[[Dunedin]]]]
[[File:Nelson_New_Zealand.jpg|thumb|[[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]]]]
[[File:Market Street, Blenheim, New Zealand 2022-06-05.jpg|thumb|Market Street, Blenheim]]
[[File:Timaru-Stafford.St.jpg|thumb|Stafford Street, the heart of Timaru's CBD]]
At the 2023 census, 82.8% of South Islanders identified as [[European New Zealanders|European]] ([[Pākehā]]), 11.3% as [[Māori people|Māori]], 3.4% as [[Pasifika New Zealanders|Pacific peoples]], 10.5% as [[Asian New Zealanders|Asian]], 1.6% as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, 1.4% as other ethnicities. Percentages add to more than 100% as people can identify with more than one ethnicity.<ref name=":03" />

Europeans form the majority in all districts of the South Island, ranging from 75.9% in Christchurch City to 92.1% in the [[Waimakariri District|Waimakariri district]].<ref name=":03" />

The proportion of South Islanders born overseas at the 2018 census was 21.4%. The most common foreign countries of birth are England (22.0% of overseas-born residents), Australia (8.8%), the Philippines (7.9%), Mainland China (6.5%) and India (5.4%).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Birthplace (detailed), for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB) |url=http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE8279 |access-date=18 February 2021 |website=nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz }}</ref>

Around 48.6 percent of South Islanders affiliate with Christianity and 3.1 percent affiliate with non-Christian religions, while 45.8 percent are irreligious. [[Anglicanism]] is the largest Christian denomination in the South Island with 12.7 percent affiliating, closely followed by [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]] at 12.1 percent and [[Presbyterianism]] at 11.7 percent.<ref name="quickstats_culture">{{cite web |date=15 April 2014 |title=2013 Census QuickStats about culture and identity – data tables |url=http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Census/2013%20Census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/tables.xls |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524102811/http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Census/2013%20Census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/tables.xls |archive-date=24 May 2014 |access-date=25 January 2016 |publisher=[[Statistics New Zealand]]}} Note some percentages (e.g. ethnicity, language) may add to more than 100 percent as people could give multiple responses.</ref> These figures are somewhat skewed between the regions of the south, due largely to the original settlement of southern cities (Dunedin, for example, was founded by Scottish Presbyterians, whereas Christchurch was founded by English Anglicans).