It could be confusion over "where" the growth is occurring. I had a Witness family member tell me (in passing) that there was a lot of interest from the public in jw-org. Curious, I asked whether the interest was local or throughout New Zealand in general or worldwide?
Her somewhat testy answer was about the number of "hits" jw-org gets daily. I (gently) pushed the matter further and asked how many more were attending meetings and she said "it is increasing". Her tone said not to ask any further pointed questions. We readily changed the topic. I should imagine she will not bring the matter up again even in passing.
Anyone interested in the "growth" of JWs in New Zealand need only go to JW facts or the annual yearbook to note that growth is little more than could be expected from born-ins alone. The number attending memorials has hovered round the mid-20,000's for several years (reaching a peak of more than 27,000 in 2011) and average publishers in the 13,000s for as many years.