UPDATED 8.04PM: There's been dire warnings over the country's population.

Massey University researchers say New Zealand urgently needs a high-level strategy on population change.

If we don't come up with one, we're staring down the barrel of a myriad of problems ranging from regional decline to growing shortages in housing and service provision.

Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley says there hasn’t been a strategic government population policy since the 1970s.

Since then New Zealand has undergone dramatic demographic change with an ageing population, falling birth rates and rapidly increasing immigration.

The university's holding two forums on the implications of New Zealand’s latest population trends this week in Auckland and Wellington.

Massey Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey says the country needs to focus on taking advantage of the rapid demographic changes to drive the economy.

At the moment, for every 100 workers there are 52 dependents, but in about a decade, that number could rise to 80 dependents.