The information presented in this profile is based on the census usually resident population count. The Cook Island Maori population includes those people who stated Cook Island Maori as their sole ethnicity or as one of several ethnic groups. The Pacific population refers to all those who stated a Pacific ethnicity.
- In 2001, Cook Island Maori was the second-largest Pacific ethnic group living in New Zealand, comprising 52,600 or 23 percent of New Zealand's Pacific population (231,800).
- The largest Pacific ethnic group was Samoan (50 percent). The Tongan (18 percent), Niuean (9 percent), Fijian (3 percent), Tokelauan (3 percent) and Tuvaluan (1 percent) groups followed Cook Island Maori in population size.
- The Cook Island Maori population increased by 5,200 or 11 percent between 1996 and 2001. During the same five-year period, the Pacific population increased by 15 percent.
- Growth of the Cook Island Maori population was slower between 1996 and 2001 than between 1991 and 1996, when it increased by 24 percent.
- In the decade to 2001, the Cook Island Maori population increased by 38 percent, as figure 1.1 illustrates.
Age and sex distribution
The Cook Island Maori population is relatively youthful compared with the New Zealand population, as figure 1.2 illustrates. In 2001, 42 percent of Cook Island Maori were under 15 years of age, compared with 23 percent of the New Zealand population. Three percent of Cook Island Maori were aged 65 years and over, compared with 12 percent of the New Zealand population.
In 2001, the median age, or midpoint of the Cook Island Maori age distribution, was 18.8 years. By comparison, the median ages for the Pacific and New Zealand populations were 21.0 years and 34.8 years respectively.
Cook Island Maori females (26,400) outnumber Cook Island Maori males (25,800), making up 51 percent of the population. Females make up the majority of Cook Island Maori aged 65 years and over – a reflection of their longer life expectancy.
Place of birth
- New Zealand-born Cook Island Maori accounted for 70 percent of the Cook Island Maori population in New Zealand in 2001, a similar proportion to 1996 (69 percent). In 1991, 60 percent of Cook Island Maori people living in New Zealand were New Zealand-born.
- In 2001, 95 percent of overseas-born Cook Island Maori in New Zealand gave the Cook Islands as their birthplace.
- Between 1996 and 2001, the New Zealand-born Cook Island Maori population grew more quickly than the overseas-born Cook Island Maori population (14 percent compared with 10 percent).
- The New Zealand-born Cook Island Maori population has a much younger age structure than the overseas-born Cook Island Maori population. In 2001, 55 percent of the New Zealand-born Cook Island Maori population were under the age of 15 years, whereas 12 percent of the overseas-born population were under 15 years.
- Two percent of New Zealand-born Cook Island Maori people were aged between 45 and 64 years in 2001, whereas 29 percent of the overseas-born population were in this age group.
Duration of residence
- The majority (60 percent) of Cook Island Maori born overseas had been living in New Zealand for more than 20 years at the time of the 2001 Census.
- Three percent of the overseas-born Cook Island Maori population had been in New Zealand for less than one year in 2001 – a similar level to 1996 (4 percent).
Geographical distribution
- In 2001, 87 percent of all Cook Island Maori lived in the main urban areas (populations of 30,000 or more) – almost unchanged from 1996.
- The greatest concentration of the Cook Island Maori community in 2001 was in the Auckland urban area – 59 percent (up from 56 percent in 1996).
- The next largest concentration of Cook Island Maori was in the Wellington urban area (12 percent in 2001 and 1996).
- More than one-third (34 percent) of the Cook Island Maori population lived in southern Auckland. Outside of Auckland, 6 percent lived in Porirua and 3 percent in Lower Hutt.
- The largest Cook Island Maori community in the South Island in 2001 was in the Christchurch urban area, with 1,200 or 2 percent of all Cook Island Maori.