New Zealanders, most people will know as at the far end of the world,

so young New Zealanders have always gone overseas.

It's long been a rite of passage for many young New Zealanders

to head overseas once they finish their education.

But now it seems young professionals and graduates

are leaving the country in record numbers, sparking fears of a brain drain.

More than half of those departing Kiwis are heading to Australia across the Tasman Sea, known colloquially as the ditch.

At the moment, everybody knows someone moving to Australia.

Especially in the last year, it's massive.

People are actually talking about the fact that people are talking about moving to Australia.

I think we're at the point where we should probably be talking about brain drain.

We're seeing some of our best and brightest leaving to go and work in other countries.

It's a massive thing to uproot and leave the place that you're most familiar with to come to somewhere, which is an unknown, even if it is three hours across the ditch on a plane.

I'm Ruth Evans, and in this BBC World Service documentary, heading across the ditch,

I'll be finding out what's driving this Kiwi exodus,

and what the country's rapidly changing demographics mean for the country's future.

Through 2023 and 2024, we've seen the rise and rise of New Zealanders exiting this country.

Paul Spoonley, an emeritus professor at Massey University in Auckland.

So at one point, recently, for a 12-month period, there were 80,000 New Zealand citizens

that left to live in another country. New Zealanders, particularly younger New Zealanders, are looking

around the world and thinking, can I get a decent job, a better salary, are there things that I

want to do in another country? According to the government body statistics New Zealand, 70,000

...