Pasifika New Zealander

Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands outside of New Zealand itself (also known as Pacific Islanders). They form the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country, after European-descended Pākehā, indigenous Māori, and Asian New Zealanders. There are over 380,000 Pasifika people in New Zealand, with the majority living in Auckland. 8% of the population of New Zealand identifies as being of Pacific origin.

History

Prior to the Second World War Pasifika in New Zealand numbered only a few hundred. Wide-scale Pasifika migration to New Zealand began in the 1950s and 1960s, typically from countries associated with the Commonwealth and the Realm of New Zealand, including Western Samoa (modern-day Samoa), the Cook Islands and Niue.

In the 1970s, governments (both Labour and National), migration officials, and special police squads targeted Pasifika illegal overstayers. Pacific Studies academic Dr Melani Anae describes the Dawn Raids as "the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand government in New Zealand's history".

Immigrant Pasifika families settled in the inner city suburbs of Auckland and other major cities in the country, when middle class Pākehā families were tending to move outwards to newer, more distant suburbs. Pasifika immigrants also tended to replace Urban Māori in central suburbs.

By the mid-1970s, gentrification became an issue for Pasifika communities in Auckland. The cheap housing found in Ponsonby and other inner city Auckland suburbs were attractive to Pākehā young professionals, especially socially liberal families searching for a multicultural and urban lifestyle. As these houses were purchased, the available rental stock plummeted, and Pasifika families who tended to rent more began to relocate to suburbs further out from the city centre. The Pasifika populations in Ponsonby and Freemans Bay peaked in 1976. Grey Lynn continued to have a large Pasifika population (particularly Samoan) until the mid-1980s.

Demographics

There were 381,642 people identifying as being part of the Pacific Peoples ethnic group at the 2018 New Zealand census, making up 8.1% of New Zealand's population. This is an increase of 85,701 people (29.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 115,668 people (43.5%) since the 2006 census. Some of the increase between the 2013 and 2018 census was due to Statistics New Zealand adding ethnicity data from other sources (previous censuses, administrative data, and imputation) to the 2018 census data to reduce the number of non-responses.

There were 191,391 males and 190,254 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.006 males per female. The median age was 23.4 years, compared to 37.4 years for all New Zealanders; 128,154 people (33.6%) were aged under 15 years, 103,752 (27.2%) were 15 to 29, 129,504 (33.9%) were 30 to 64, and 20,232 (5.3%) were 65 or older.

The majority of Pasifikia were born in New Zealand: 66.4% at the 2018 census, up from 62.3% at the 2013 census and 60.0% at the 2006 census.

In terms of population distribution, 243,966 (63.9%) Pacific people live in the Auckland region, 106,125 (27.8%) live in the North Island outside the Auckland region, and 31,542 (8.3%) live in the South Island. The Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board area of Auckland has the highest concentration of Pacific people with a majority

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