Ruapehu district has a variety of unique communities of interest from small to medium sized rural townships and rural populations.
The estimated resident population based on the 2018 census is 12,750, with a population density of 0.02 persons per hectare. In the 2018 census 68.8% of the population identified their ethnicity as European. Maori made up 43.4% of the population, Asian peoples 23.4% and Pacific peoples 2.2%.
