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Key Statistics - article, March 2003, p. 9-12
Pacific Profiles 2001 Highlights1
This article contains selected highlights from the Pacific Profiles 2001 series released in February 2003. The profiles provide statistics on the seven largest Pacific ethnic groups in New Zealand taken from the 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings: Samoan, Cook Island Maori, Tongan, Niuean, Fijian, Tokelauan and Tuvaluan. Individual profiles of each Pacific group include information on demographics, language, religion, families and households, education, the labour force, income, housing, and access to amenities such as the Internet. The profiles follow previous series based on the 1991 and 1996 Censuses.
Note: This information is based on the census usually resident population count. The population for each Pacific ethnic group includes those people who stated that ethnic group as their sole ethnicity or as one of several ethnic groups. The Pacific population refers to all those who stated a Pacific ethnicity.
Pacific ethnic group populations in New Zealand
At the time of the 2001 Census, there were 231,800 Pacific people in New Zealand. Of those, Samoan people made up the single largest Pacific ethnic group, comprising 115,000 or 50 percent of New Zealand’s Pacific population. This was followed by Cook Island Maori (52,600 or 23 percent), Tongan (40,700 or 18 percent), Niuean (20,100 or 9 percent), Fijian (7,000 or 3 percent), Tokelauan (6,200 or 3 percent) and Tuvaluan, (1,960 or just under 1 percent).
Changes in population since 1996
The continued growth of the Tuvaluan ethnic group means Tuvaluan people now form the seventh largest Pacific ethnic group in New Zealand (overtaking Society Islanders/Tahitians). Between 1996 and 2001, the Tuvaluan population in New Zealand more than doubled from a total of 900 (see figure 1). In the five years to 2001, large percentage increases were also recorded for the Tongan and Tokelauan ethnic groups (up 30 percent or 9,300 and 26 percent or 1,300, respectively). Other increases were recorded for the Samoan (12 percent or 12,700), Cook Island Maori (up 11 percent or 5,200) and Niuean (up 9 percent or 1,700) ethnic groups, while the Fijian population decreased over the same period (down 8 percent or 700) on 1996.
Pacific ethnic groups increasingly New Zealand-born
The members of the seven largest Pacific ethnic groups in New Zealand are increasingly likely to have been born here. In 2001, 70 percent of both the Cook Island Maori and Niuean ethnic groups in New Zealand were New Zealand-born – a similar proportion to the Tokelauan ethnic group (66 percent). The majority of the Samoan (58 percent) and Tongan (53 percent) people in New Zealand were also born here. The more recent immigration of Tuvaluan people meant that a relatively low proportion of that population (28 percent) was New Zealand-born in 2001.
A young Pacific population
The Pacific population in New Zealand is relatively youthful. The median age for the total Pacific population in 2001 was 21.0 years, compared with 34.8 years for the total New Zealand population. Of the seven largest Pacific populations, the highest median age was recorded for the Fijian ethnic group, at 23.7 years, while the lowest was recorded for both the Tokelauan and Cook Island Maori populations, at 18.8 years. In 2001, the median age, or midpoint of the Samoan age distribution, was 20.9 years, while for the Tongan population it was 19.2 years. Other median ages recorded were: Tuvaluan, 20.3 years and Niuean, 19.7 years.
Children (those aged under 15 years) make up a larger proportion of each of the Pacific ethnic groups than the proportion of children in the total New Zealand population. Tongan and Tokelauan children both comprised 43 percent of their respective populations in 2001, while the lowest proportion of children among the Pacific ethnic groups was recorded for the Fijian ethnic group, at 33 percent. This was considerably higher than the equivalent figure recorded for the total New Zealand population (23 percent). The corresponding proportions for the other profiled Pacific groups were: Cook Island Maori (42 percent), Niuean (41 percent), and Samoan and Tuvaluan (both 39 percent).
Most Pacific people living in Auckland region
The majority of most of the Pacific groups lived the Auckland region at the time of the 2001 Census. Eighty-one percent of Tuvaluans, 78 percent of both Tongans and Niueans, 66 percent of Samoans, 59 percent of Cook Island Maori and 57 percent of the Fijian population in New Zealand lived in the Auckland urban area in 2001. The exception was the Tokelauan ethnic group, with more than half (53 percent) living in the Wellington urban area in 2001.
Within the Auckland region, the majority of most Pacific ethnic groups resided in southern Auckland. In 2001, 35 percent of both the Tongan and Niuean populations and 34 percent of both the Samoan and Cook Island Maori populations resided in southern Auckland. However, the Tuvaluan population mainly resided in western Auckland – 58 percent at the time of the 2001 Census.
Language
In 2001, 67 percent of Samoan people (with a language) were able to hold an everyday conversation in Samoan – the same proportion as in 1996. The corresponding figures for the other Pacific groups able to speak their indigenous language (and a comparison with 1996) were: Tongan, 60 percent, down from 63 percent; Tokelauan, 44 percent, down from 53 percent; Fijian, 28 percent, up from 24 percent; Niuean, 28 percent, down from 32 percent; and Cook Island Maori, 18 percent, the same proportion as in 1996.
High levels of religious affiliation
All of the major Pacific ethnic groups have high levels of affiliation with a Christian religion. In 2001, Tuvaluan people (97 percent) reported the highest level of affiliation with a Christian religion. At least 9 out of 10 people in the Tongan (92 percent), Tokelauan (91 percent) and Samoan (90 percent) ethnic groups were also affiliated with a Christian religion. The equivalent levels for the remaining Pacific ethnic groups were: Fijian (79 percent), Cook Island Maori (77 percent) and Niuean (76 percent).
Of those Tuvaluan people with a religion, the most common religious affiliation was Presbyterian (62 percent of those with an affiliation). Presbyterian was also the most common affiliation for the Niuean (49 percent) and Cook Island Maori groups (43 percent).
The most common religious affiliation for Tongan people was Methodist (45 percent), while Tokelauan people were equally likely to be Methodist (41 percent) and Presbyterian (41 percent).
In 2001, Catholicism was the most common religion among the Fijian ethnic group (30 percent), although a relatively large proportion of Fijian people reported their affiliation as Methodist (25 percent). The majority of Samoan people with an affiliation were either Catholic (28 percent) or Presbyterian (24 percent).
Increases in post-school qualifications
There is a rising trend in post-school qualifications among the Pacific ethnic groups, especially among those Pacific people born in New Zealand. New Zealand-born Fijian adults (aged 15 years and over) were most likely to have a post-school qualification: 30 percent, compared with 29 percent of the overseas-born Fijian adult population. The corresponding figures for the other Pacific groups were: Samoan, 23 percent and 13 percent respectively; Niuean, 20 percent and 15 percent; Cook Island Maori, 19 percent and 12 percent; Tokelauan, 18 percent and 16 percent; and Tongan, 16 percent and 10 percent. See figure 2.
Median annual incomes
Among the major Pacific ethnic groups in 2001, the Fijian adult population (aged 15 years and over) had the highest median annual income of $17,100 (from all sources, including income support). This was $2,300 above the median annual income of the Pacific adult population ($14,800 in the year to March 2001), and $1,400 lower than the median annual income for the New Zealand adult population ($18,500). The lowest median annual income among the major Pacific ethnic groups was recorded by the Tuvaluan adult population ($10,100) The median annual incomes of the other major Pacific ethnic groups in 2001 were: Niuean ($16,600), Samoan ($15,600), Cook Island Maori ($14,800), Tokelauan ($13,200), and Tongan ($11,800).
The real median annual income (adjusted for inflation to 2001 dollars) of Samoan people increased by 23 percent between 1991 and 2001. Over the same period, the real median annual income of the Pacific population and the New Zealand population increased by 16 percent and 11 percent respectively. The equivalent increases recorded by the other major Pacific ethnic groups were: Niuean (22 percent), Tokelauan (20 percent) Cook Island Maori (10 percent), Fijian (6 percent), and Tongan (4 percent).
Levels of home ownership
At the time of the 2001 Census, nearly a third (31 percent) of Fijian adults (aged 15 years and over) stated that they owned or partly owned their own home. For Tuvaluan people, a less established population, the equivalent proportion was 16 percent. By comparison, 26 percent of the total Pacific adult population, and 55 percent of the New Zealand adult population owned or partly owned their own home in 2001. The younger age structure of the Pacific ethnic groups is a contributing factor to this difference. The levels of home ownership among the remaining major Pacific ethnic groups were: Samoan (27 percent), Niuean (25 percent), Cook Island Maori (24 percent) Tongan (23 percent), and Tokelauan (22 percent). (See figure 3.)
Pacific Profiles 2001 are available free from the Statistics New Zealand website: www.stats.govt.nz. Individual profiles are can be ordered free of charge; however, there is a charge of $35 for the full set of Pacific Profiles (bound book edition). To order, contact publications@stats.govt.nz, or call our Information Centre toll free 0508 525 525.
Footnote
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Pacific peoples
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