The adult Samoan population includes all those aged 15 years and over.
- In 2001, 69 percent of Samoan adults held a formal educational qualification – slightly higher than the equivalent figure of 64 percent for the Pacific population.
- Just over half of the adult Samoan population (52 percent) listed a school qualification as their highest qualification in 2001, while a further 17 percent held a post-school qualification. By contrast, 32 percent of the New Zealand population held a post-school qualification in 2001.
- Young Samoan adults are more likely to hold a post-school qualification than their older counterparts, as figure 5.1 illustrates. In 2001, 24 percent of Samoan people aged 20–24 years held a post-school qualification, declining at each successive age group to 5 percent of those aged 65 years and over.
- Similar proportions of Samoan females and males have a school qualification as their highest qualification (53 percent and 52 percent respectively). However, females are more likely than their male counterparts to have post-school qualifications (19 percent and 15 percent respectively).
- Although similar levels of New Zealand-born and overseas-born Samoan populations reported a school qualification (53 percent and 52 percent respectively), those born in New Zealand were more likely to hold a post-school qualification in 2001 (23 percent compared with 13 percent).
- The overseas-born Samoan population (36 percent) was more likely to be without any formal qualifications than New Zealand-born Samoans (24 percent).
- Young Samoan adults are less likely to be without a formal qualification than their older counterparts. In 2001, 20 percent of Samoans aged 20–24 years and 21 percent of those aged 25–34 years were without any formal qualifications, compared with 28 percent of those aged 35–44 years and 48 percent of those aged 45–64 years.
