The information presented in this profile is based on the census usually resident population count. The Fijian population includes those people who stated Fijian as their sole ethnicity or as one of several ethnic groups, including Indian and Fijian-Indian. The Pacific population refers to all those who stated a Pacific ethnicity.
- Fijian people were the fifth largest Pacific ethnic group living in New Zealand in 2001, comprising 7,000 or 3 percent of New Zealand’s Pacific population (231,800).
- The largest Pacific ethnic group was Samoan (50 percent), followed by the Cook Island Maori (23 percent), Tongan (18 percent) and Niuean (9 percent) ethnic groups. The Tokelauan (3 percent) group closely followed the Fijian ethnic group in population size and was followed by the Tuvaluan group (1 percent).
- The Fijian population decreased by 700 or 8 percent between 1996 and 2001, as figure 1.1 illustrates. During the same five-year period, the Pacific population increased by 15 percent.
- Between 1991 and 2001, the Fijian population grew by 38 percent from 5,100 to 7,000.
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Age and sex distribution
- The Fijian population is relatively youthful, as figure 1.2 illustrates. In 2001, 33 percent of Fijians were under 15 years of age, compared with 23 percent of the New Zealand population. Four percent of Fijians were aged 65 years and over, compared with 12 percent of the New Zealand population.
- In 2001, the median age, or midpoint of the Fijian age distribution, was 23.7 years. By comparison, the median ages for the Pacific and New Zealand populations were 21.0 years and 34.8 years respectively.
- Fijian females (3,700) slightly outnumber Fijian males (3,400) and make up 52 percent of the Fijian population.
- Although distribution of the sexes throughout the age groups is relatively balanced, women make up the majority (64 percent) of Fijians aged 65 years and over – a reflection of their longer life expectancy.
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Place of birth
- New Zealand-born Fijians accounted for 47 percent of the Fijian population in New Zealand in 2001, the same proportion as in 1996. In 1991, 34 percent of Fijian people living in New Zealand were New Zealand-born.
In 2001, 95 percent of overseas-born Fijian people in New Zealand gave Fiji as their birthplace.
- Between 1996 and 2001, the New Zealand-born Fijian population decreased by 7 percent, while the overseas-born Fijian population decreased by 8 percent.
- The New Zealand-born Fijian population has a much younger age structure than the overseas-born Fijian population. In 2001, 58 percent of the New Zealand-born Fijian population were under the age of 15 years, whereas only 11 percent of the overseas-born population were under 15 years.
- Two percent of New Zealand-born Fijian people were aged between 45 and 64 years, whereas 26 percent of the overseas-born population were in this age group in 2001.
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Duration of residence
- Nearly a third (32 percent) of Fijians born overseas had been living in New Zealand for between 10 and 20 years at the time of the 2001 Census, while nearly another third (32 percent) had been resident for more than 20 years.
- Eight percent of the overseas-born Fijian population had been in New Zealand for less than one year – up 2 percentage points from 1996.
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Geographical distribution
- In 2001, 87 percent of all Fijian people lived in the main urban areas (populations of 30,000 or more) – up from 85 percent in 1996.
- The geographical distribution was largely unchanged from 1996, with the greatest concentration of the Fijian community being in the Auckland urban area (57 percent in both 2001 and 1996).
The next largest concentration of Fijian people was in the Wellington urban area, with 11 percent in 2001 (up 1 percentage point from 1996).
- Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the Fijian population lived in central Auckland, while a further 14 percent lived in southern Auckland.
- The largest Fijian community in the South Island in 2001 was in the Christchurch urban area, with 300 or 5 percent of all Fijian people.