The information presented in this profile is based on the census usually resident population count. The Tongan population includes those people who stated Tongan as their sole ethnicity or as one of several ethnic groups. The Pacific population refers to all those who stated a Pacific ethnicity.
- Tongan people were the third largest Pacific ethnic group living in New Zealand in 2001, comprising 40,700 or 18 percent of New Zealand’s Pacific population (231,800).
- The largest Pacific ethnic group was Samoan (50 percent), followed by Cook Island Maori (23 percent). The Niuean (9 percent), Fijian (3 percent), Tokelauan (3 percent) and Tuvaluan (1 percent) groups followed the Tongan ethnic group in population size.
- The Tongan population increased by 9,300 or 30 percent between 1996 and 2001. During the same five-year period, the Pacific population increased by 15 percent.
- In the decade to 2001, the Tongan population increased by 17,500 or 76 percent, as figure 1.1 illustrates.
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Age and sex distribution
- The Tongan population is very youthful, as figure 1.2 illustrates. In 2001, 43 percent of Tongans were under 15 years of age, compared with 23 percent of the New Zealand population. Three percent of Tongans were aged 65 years and over, compared with 12 percent of the New Zealand population.
- In 2001, the median age, or midpoint of the Tongan age distribution, was 19.2 years. By comparison, the median ages for the Pacific and New Zealand populations were 21.0 years and 34.8 years respectively.
- The sexes are evenly balanced, with males (20,400) and females (20,300) each making up 50 percent of the Tongan population. Figure 1.2 shows that this pattern continues through the age groups, although females make up the majority (55 percent) of Tongan people aged 65 years and over – a reflection of their longer life expectancy.
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Place of birth
- New Zealand-born Tongans accounted for 53 percent of the total Tongan population in New Zealand in 2001, a similar proportion to 1996 (52 percent). In 1991, 42 percent of Tongan people living in New Zealand were New Zealand-born.
- In 2001, 94 percent of overseas-born Tongan people in New Zealand gave Tonga as their birthplace.
- Between 1996 and 2001, the New Zealand-born Tongan population grew more quickly than the overseas-born Tongan population (33 percent compared with 27 percent).
- The New Zealand-born Tongan population has a much younger age structure than the overseas-born Tongan population. In 2001, 72 percent of the New Zealand-born Tongan population were under the age of 15 years, whereas 10 percent of the overseas-born population were under 15 years.
- Two percent of New Zealand-born Tongan people were aged between 45 and 64, whereas 21 percent of the overseas-born population were in this age group in 2001.
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Duration of residence
- Forty percent of Tongans born overseas had been living in New Zealand for between 10 and 20 years at the time of the 2001 Census, while 22 percent had been resident for more than 20 years.
- As in 1996, 5 percent of the overseas-born Tongan population had been in New Zealand for less than one year.
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Geographical distribution
- In 2001, 94 percent of all Tongan people lived in main urban areas (populations of 30,000 or more) – almost unchanged from 1996 (93 percent).
- The greatest concentration of the Tongan community was in the Auckland urban area – 78 percent in both 2001 and 1996.
- The next largest concentration of Tongan people was in the Wellington urban area – 5 percent in 2001 and 1996.
- More than one third (35 percent) of the total Tongan population lived in southern Auckland, while a further 32 percent lived in central Auckland.
- The largest Tongan community in the South Island in 2001 was in the Christchurch urban area, with 770 or 2 percent of all Tongan people.