Misplaced Pages

In the most recent New Zealand census, in 2018, 70.2 per cent of the population identified as European and 16.5 per cent as Māori. Other major pan-ethnic groups include Asians (15.1 per cent) and Pacific peoples (8.1 per cent). Middle Eastern, Latin American and African ethnicities constitute a small remainder (1.5 per cent) of the population. When completing the census people could select more than one ethnic group and this list includes all of the stated ethnic groups if more than one is chosen.

New Zealand's ethnic diversity can be attributed to its history and location. For example, the country's colonisation by the UK is a core reason for its Western values and culture.

Terminology

The New Zealand census invites respondents to identify with an ethnic group.

There are six major ethnic groupings:

• European New Zealanders (Pākehā) are a European ethnic group. It includes New Zealanders of European descent, European peoples (e.g. British, Irish, Dutch, German, Russian, Italian, Greek), and other peoples of indirect European descent (e.g. Americans, Canadians, Australians and South Africans,).
• Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
• Pacific peoples (Pasifika) originate from other islands in the Pacific, including from the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau, all of which are dependent states of New Zealand, as well as other places like Tuvalu, Palau, The Pitcairn Islands and Fiji.
• Asian New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group deriving from various nations in the Asian continent, such as Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese or their descendants.
• Middle Eastern, Latin American, African (MELAA), and Caribbean ethnicities constitute a very small remainder of the population.
• "Other" is a grouping of ethnic groups which do not fit into the other five top-level ethnic groups.

Handling multiple ethnicities

Many respondents identify with multiple ancestries. Outputting data on multiple ethnicities is normally handled one of two ways: total response or prioritised ethnicity. For this list, the total response method is used.

Total response counts people of multiple ethnicities in each ethnic groups in which they identify. While this shows all the people that identify with a particular ethnicities, the sum of all ethnic group populations adds to more than the total population. For example, a person who identifies as New Zealand European and Māori would be counted twice, once under each ethnicity, under total response output.

Prioritised ethnicity counts people with multiple ethnicities in the highest-priority single ethnic group in which they identify. The order of priority for ethnicity, from highest to lowest, is Māori, Pacific peoples, Asian, MELAA, other and European. While it has the advantage that the sum of all ethnic groups equals the total population, the preferential order can cause ethnic groups to be overrepresented or underrepresented, and may categorise a person differently from their self-identified primary ethnicity. For example, a person who identifies as New Zealand European and Māori would be counted under the Māori ethnic group under prioritised ethnicity output.

Ethnicities

Only ethnicities with 1,000 or more responses at the 2023 census are included individually:

• nfd – Not Further Defined (insufficient data to classify the response further)
• nec – Not Elsewhere Classified (when no category exists for the response)
• a – Includes Don't Know, Refused to Answer, Response Unidentifiable, Response Outside Scope and Not Stated
• MELAA – Middle Eastern, Latin American and African

Ethnic groups by region

In images

• European from 2006 to 2018
• Māori in 2018
• Asian in 2018
• Pacific peoples in 2018

See also

• Demographics of New Zealand

Citations

1. ^ "Cultural diversity". 2013 Census QuickStats about national highlights. Statistics New Zealand. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
2. Rocha, Zarine L. (2015). "Mixed Race" Identities in Asia and the Pacific: Experiences from Singapore and New Zealand. Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 9781317390787. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
3. "Classifications and related statistical standards – Ethnicity". Statistics New Zealand. June 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
4. Fraenkel, Jon (20 June 2012). "Pacific Islands and New Zealand". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
5. ^ "HISO 10001:2017 Ethnicity Data Protocols" (PDF). Ministry of Health (New Zealand). September 2017.
6. "Ethnic group profiles". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
7. "2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights | Stats NZ". www.stats.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
8. "Ethnic group (detailed total response - level 3) by age and sex, for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB)". nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 March 2020.

References

• 2013 Census QuickStats, Statistics New Zealand, 2013, ISBN 978-0-478-40864-5

v t e New Zealand people
Indigenous	Māori Moriori
Africa	Egyptian South African Zimbabwean
Americas	American Canadian Mexican
Asia	Afghan Arab Iraqi Lebanese Syrian Assyrian Bangladeshi Burmese Chinese Filipino Indian Punjabi Tamil Indonesian Iranian Israeli Jewish Japanese Korean Malaysian Nepali Pakistani Punjabi Sri Lankan Thai Turkish Vietnamese
Europe	Albanian Armenian British English Scottish Welsh Croatian Dutch French German Greek Hungarian Irish Italian Nordic Danish Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Serbian Spanish Ukrainian
Oceania	Australian Pasifika Kiribati Papua New Guinean Rotuman Samoan Tongan Tuvaluan
New Zealanders Immigration to New Zealand Immigration New Zealand Refugees in New Zealand List of ethnic origins of New Zealanders

• Ethnic groups in New Zealand
• New Zealand people by descent
• New Zealand culture-related lists
• New Zealand history-related lists