West Coast Region

West Coast Te Tai Poutini
Region
West Coast Region in New Zealand
Coordinates: 42°36′S 171°24′E / 42.6°S 171.4°E / -42.6; 171.4
Country	New Zealand
Island	South Island
Seat	Greymouth
Constituent territorial authorities	List Buller District Grey District Westland District
Government
• Type	Regional council
• Body	West Coast Regional Council
• Chair	Peter Haddock[1]
Area [2]
• Land	23,245.52 km2 (8,975.15 sq mi)
Population  (June 2024)[3]
• Total	34,800
GDP [4]
• Total	NZ$ 2.101 billion (2021) (15th)
• Per capita	NZ$ 64,063 (2021)
HDI (2022)	0.922[5] very high · 11th
Website	westcoast.co.nz

The West Coast (Māori: Te Tai Poutini, lit. 'The Coast of Poutini, the Taniwha')^[6] is a region of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island. It is administered by the West Coast Regional Council, and is known co-officially as Te Tai Poutini. It comprises the territorial authorities of Buller District, Grey District and Westland District. The principal towns are Westport, Greymouth and Hokitika. The region, one of the more remote areas of the country, is also the most sparsely populated. With a population of just 32,900 people, the West Coast is the least populous region in New Zealand. The population in the region grew by 0.4% over the year to July 2023.^[7]

The region has a rich and important history. The land itself is ancient, stretching back to the Carboniferous period; this is evident by the amount of carboniferous materials naturally found there, especially coal. First settled by Kāi Tahu in approximately 1200 AD, the area was famous across New Zealand for its richness in pounamu greenstone. Kāi Tahu traded millions of modern New Zealand dollars' worth of the stone across New Zealand, making Te Tai Poutini one of the wealthiest regions in the country.^[8]

After the arrival of Europeans, the region became famed for its vast and mostly untapped gold reserves, which historically had not been highly valued.^[9] The region was subsequently settled by thousands of Irish Catholics after the Irish Famine,^[10] who constitute the majority of the population, alongside the indigenous Kāi Tahu and those who come from admixing between the two populations. The region was also heavily sought after by nuclear weapons states in the 1950s for its abundant resources of uranium, which many West Coasters found objectionable.^[11] The West Coast is the only region of New Zealand where coal mining is still widely practiced.