Movers
The proportion of the people who stated that they lived elsewhere in New Zealand five years earlier steadily increased over the period 1986 to 2006.
In 1986, less than 40 percent of Pacific people stated that they had moved in the previous five years. By 2006, over half had moved in the previous five years. Proportionally, the greatest increases in mobility have been in the age groups aged 35 years and over. Almost half of the 40–45 year age group, for example, had moved in 2006 compared with less than 30 percent 20 years earlier in 1986.
Figure 1
Pacific people have a lower proportion of movers in all age groups than the total New Zealand population. This is particularly striking among young adult age groups.
Figure 2
Age and sex of movers
The age-sex profile of the Pacific movers has two features of note. The first is that the age-sex profile of the Pacific and the Māori populations is very similar, albeit the Pacific is a younger population. Yet the age-sex profiles differ in that it is less common for Pacific people in their twenties to move. This is shown by the 'waist' in the age-sex pyramid of the movers (figure 3) which is not seen in the age-sex pyramid for Māori movers (figure 4). In part this is related to the geographic distribution of the Pacific populations in New Zealand. The second feature is that there are more women than men among the adult movers.
Figure 3
Age and sex of movers from overseas
Less than 9 percent of the Pacific population in New Zealand in 2006 had been overseas five years earlier. The age-sex pyramid below is drawn to the same scale as the pyramids of movers and non-movers so that the relative contribution of inflows from overseas can be shown. These inflows occur across all ages, in contrast to, for example, the Asian inflows, which are strongly concentrated in young adult and student ages. Key factors in explaining age profile of Pacific inflows are the history of settlement from the Pacific and the maturing migration relationship between New Zealand and the Pacific countries.
Figure 4
Age and sex of non-movers
People of Pacific ethnicities who did not move between 2001 and 2006 tended to be parents in families with children in secondary education. The adult non-movers were concentrated in the middle adult years, with relatively many fewer non-movers in their late twenties and early thirties. Associated with these adult non-movers were younger teenage children in secondary education ages. Young adults among the Pacific population are less likely to have moved than people of other ethnicities for a number of social and economic reasons.
Figure 5
