The information presented in this profile is based on the census usually resident population count. The Samoan population includes those people who stated Samoan 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, Samoan people were the single largest Pacific ethnic group living in New Zealand, comprising 115,000 or 50 percent of New Zealand's Pacific population (231,800).
- The next largest Pacific ethnic group was Cook Island Maori (23 percent), followed by the Tongan (18 percent), Niuean (9 percent), Fijian (3 percent), Tokelauan (3 percent) and Tuvaluan (1 percent) groups.
- The Samoan population increased by 12,700 or 12 percent between 1996 and 2001. During the same five-year period, the Pacific population increased by 15 percent.
- Growth of the Samoan population was slower between 1996 and 2001 than it was between 1991 and 1996, when it increased by 19 percent.
- In the decade to 2001, the Samoan population increased by a third (33 percent), as figure 1.1 illustrates.
Age and sex distribution
- The Samoan population is relatively youthful compared with the New Zealand population, as figure 1.2 illustrates. In 2001, 39 percent of Samoans were under 15 years of age, compared with 23 percent of the New Zealand population. Three percent of Samoans were aged 65 years and over, compared with 12 percent of all New Zealanders.
- In 2001, the median age, or midpoint of the Samoan age distribution, was 20.9 years. By comparison, the median ages for the Pacific and New Zealand populations were 21.0 years and 34.8 years respectively.
- Samoan females (58,300) outnumber Samoan males (56,200), making up 51 percent of the Samoan population.
- Although distribution of the sexes throughout the age groups is relatively balanced, women make up the majority (59 percent) of Samoans aged 65 years and over – a reflection of their longer life expectancy.
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Place of birth
- New Zealand-born Samoans accounted for 58 percent of the Samoan population in New Zealand in 2001, a similar proportion to 1996 (57 percent). In 1991, 49 percent of Samoan people living in New Zealand were New Zealand-born.
- In 2001, 95 percent of overseas-born Samoan people in New Zealand gave Samoa as their birthplace.
- Between 1996 and 2001, the New Zealand-born Samoan population grew more quickly than the overseas-born Samoan population (16 percent compared with 11 percent).
- The New Zealand-born Samoan population has a much younger age structure than the overseas-born Samoan population. In 2001, 60 percent of the New Zealand-born Samoan population were under the age of 15 years, whereas only 11 percent of the overseas-born population were aged under 15 years.
- One percent of New Zealand-born Samoan people were aged between 45 and 64 years, whereas 28 percent of the overseas-born population were in this age group in 2001.
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Duration of residence
- In 2001, 80 percent of overseas-born Samoan people had been living in New Zealand for five years or more – a drop of 7 percentage points since 1996.
- Just over a third (34 percent) of Samoans born overseas had been living in New Zealand between 10 and 20 years at the time of the 2001 Census, while a further third (36 percent) had been resident for more than 20 years.
- As in 1996, 5 percent of the overseas-born Samoan population had been in New Zealand for less than one year.
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Geographical distribution
- In 2001, 95 percent of all Samoan people lived in the main urban areas (populations of 30,000 or more) – almost unchanged from 1996.
- The geographical distribution was almost unchanged from 1996, with the greatest concentration of the Samoan community being in the Auckland urban area – 66 percent compared with 65 percent in 1996.
- The next largest concentration of Samoan people was in the Wellington urban area (17 percent in 2001 and 1996).
- Over one third (34 percent) of the Samoan population lived in southern Auckland. Outside of Auckland, 6 percent lived in Porirua and 5 percent in Lower Hutt.
- The largest Samoan community in the South Island in 2001 was in the Christchurch urban area, with 5,100 or 4 percent of all Samoan people.