The adult Tongan population includes all those aged 15 years and over.
- In 2001, 64 percent of Tongan adults held a formal educational qualification – the same proportion as the Pacific population.
- Nearly half of the adult Tongan population (49 percent) listed a school qualification as their highest qualification in 2001, while a further 15 percent held a post-school qualification. By contrast, 32 percent of the New Zealand adult population held a post-school qualification in 2001.
- Young Tongan adults are more likely to hold a post-school qualification than their older counterparts, as figure 5.1 illustrates. In 2001, 22 percent of Tongan people aged 20-24 years held a post-school qualification, declining at each successive age group to 4 percent of those aged 65 years and over.
- Tongan females were slightly more likely than Tongan males to have a school qualification as their highest qualification (50 percent and 48 percent respectively). Tongan females were also more likely than their male counterparts to have post-school qualifications (17 percent and 14 percent respectively).
- Tongan people born in New Zealand (50 percent) were as likely as their overseas-born counterparts (49 percent) to have a school qualification as their highest qualification. Those born in New Zealand were also more likely to hold a post-school qualification in 2001 (22 percent compared with 13 percent).
- Of the overseas-born Tongan population, 38 percent had no formal qualifications, compared with 28 percent of New Zealand-born Tongans. The older age structure of the overseas-born Tongan population may be a contributing factor.
- Young Tongan adults are less likely to be without a formal qualification than their older counterparts. In 2001, 24 percent of Tongans aged 20-24 years and 27 percent of those aged 25–34 years were without formal qualifications, compared with 35 percent of those aged 35–44 years and 48 percent of those aged 45–64 years.