Half of Pacific peoples in the seven largest groups speak their own language
At the time of the 2006 Census, the proportion of Pacific peoples who could speak more than one language (49 percent) was much higher than for the overall New Zealand population (18 percent).
- Around half of the people in the seven largest Pacific ethnic groups could speak the language associated with their ethnicity.
- Tuvaluans were the most likely to speak their own language, at 71 percent, followed by Samoans (63 percent) and Tongans (61 percent).
- Cook Islands Maori were least likely to speak their own language, at 17 percent.
A person's ability to speak the language associated with their ethnicity was related to birthplace. For all of the seven largest groups, those born overseas were more likely to speak their own language than those born in New Zealand. For example:
- 90 percent of overseas-born Samoans spoke Samoan, but only 44 percent of New Zealand-born Samoans spoke Samoan.
- Around three out of four overseas-born Tokelauans spoke Tokelauan, but only about one in four New Zealand-born Tokelauans spoke their own language.
