Tongan people in New Zealand

Motor vehicles

• Tongan people experienced an improvement in motor vehicle access in the decade from 1991. In 2001, 90 percent of Tongans lived in households with access to a motor vehicle – up from 85 percent in 1996 and 82 percent in 1991. The comparable proportions for the Pacific and New Zealand populations in 2001 were 88 percent and 93 percent respectively.
• The New Zealand-born and overseas-born Tongan populations in New Zealand had similar levels of household motor vehicle access in 2001 (89 percent and 91 percent respectively).

Telecommunications

• In 2001, 86 percent of Tongan people lived in households with access to a telephone – a similar proportion to the Pacific population (87 percent). Among the New Zealand population, household telephone access was 95 percent.
• New Zealand-born and overseas-born Tongan people had the same levels of household telephone access (both 86 percent) in 2001.
• Seventeen percent of Tongan people lived in households with access to the Internet in 2001 – slightly below that of the Pacific population (20 percent). The equivalent proportion among the New Zealand population was 43 percent.
• New Zealand-born Tongan people were more likely to live in households with Internet access (19 percent) than overseas-born Tongans (15 percent).