List of ethnic origins of New Zealanders explained

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

There are six major ethnic groupings:^[3]

• 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.^[4]
• 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.^[5]

Ethnicities

Ethnicities (self-identified) recorded in the 2006 and 2013 New Zealand censuses. Only ethnicities with 1,000 or more responses at the 2013 census are included individually:

Code	Ethnicity	Ethnic group	Responses
			2001	2006^[6]	2013^[7]	2018^[8]
11111	New Zealand European	European	2,696,724	2,381,076	2,727,009	3,013,440
21111		Māori	526,281	565,329	598,605	775,836
42100		Asian	100,680	139,731	163,101	231,387
43100		Asian	60,213	97,443	143,520	221,916
31111	Samoan	Pacific	115,017	131,103	144,138	182,721
33111	Tongan	Pacific	40,716	50,481	60,333	82,389
32100		Pacific	51,486	56,895	61,077	80,532
41111	Filipino	Asian	11,091	16,938	40,350	72,612
12114	English	European	35,082	44,202	38,916	72,204
61118	New Zealander	Other		429,429	65,973	45,330
12948	South African European	European	14,913	21,609	28,656	37,155
44311		Asian	19,026	30,792	30,171	35,664
10000	European	European	23,598	21,855	26,472	34,632
34111	Niuean	Pacific	20,148	22,476	23,883	30,867
12211	Dutch	European	27,507	28,644	28,503	29,820
12811	Australian	European	20,784	26,355	22,467	29,349
36111		Pacific	7,041	9,864	14,445	19,722
12119	Scottish	European	13,782	15,039	14,412	18,627
44211	Japanese	Asian	10,026	11,910	14,118	18,141
12116		European	11,706	12,651	14,193	17,835
12711	German	European	9,057	10,917	12,810	16,818
12943	American	European	8,472	10,806	12,339	16,245
43112	Fijian Indian	Asian	1,983	5,616	10,929	15,132
40000	Asian	Asian	3,927	2,160	4,623	11,811
12100	British	European	16,572	27,192	36,024	11,607
41415	Thai	Asian	4,554	6,057	8,052	10,623
41311	Vietnamese	Asian	3,462	4,770	6,660	10,086
52100	Latin American	MELAA	1,044	2,253	5,622	9,798
41211	Cambodian	Asian	5,268	6,915	8,601	9,672
44111		Asian	615	792	1,017	9,171
35111	Tokelauan	Pacific	6,204	6,819	7,173	8,676
51100	Middle Eastern	MELAA	867	1,659	4,380	8,268
12945	Canadian	European	4,392	5,604	5,871	7,797
12935	Russian	European	3,141	4,836	5,979	7,713
12924	French	European	3,513	3,816	4,593	7,677
53100		MELAA	2,013	4,053	6,822	7,221
61117	Other South African	Other			255	6,816
52113	Brazilian	MELAA	582	1,473	2,868	6,663
42116	Taiwanese	Asian	3,768	5,448	5,715	6,570
41000	Southeast Asian	Asian	216	471	1,272	6,219
44414	Pakistani	Asian	1,017	2,052	3,261	6,135
41412	Indonesian	Asian	2,073	3,261	4,137	6,033
12611	Italian	European	2,955	3,117	3,798	5,352
44411	Afghani	Asian	807	2,538	3,417	5,250
12121	Welsh	European	3,414	3,774	3,708	4,971
42113	Malaysian Chinese	Asian	486	1,353	1,848	4,866
37144	Tuvaluan	Pacific	1,968	2,625	3,537	4,653
51115	Iranian/Persian	MELAA	2,160	2,895	3,198	4,425
44100		Asian	6,042	7,041	9,561	4,245
61199	Other ethnicity	Other			150	4,017
41414	Malaysian	Asian	2,052	3,537	4,797	3,729
44413	Nepalese	Asian	387	654	1,590	3,630
44112	Sri Lankan Tamil	Asian			732	3,501
37124	Kiribati	Pacific	645	1,116	2,115	3,225
42111	Hong Kong Chinese	Asian			222	3,177
51112	Arab	MELAA	2,856	2,607	2,919	2,994
12511	Croatian	European	2,505	2,550	2,673	2,946
52114	Chilean	MELAA	588	1,053	1,686	2,886
12411	Polish	European	1,956	1,965	2,163	2,871
12939	Spanish	European	1,731	1,857	2,043	2,773
30000	Pacific Peoples	Pacific	678	789	1,026	2,724
51116	Iraqi	MELAA	2,145	3,222	2,583	2,688
12941	Swiss	European	2,346	2,313	2,388	2,649
12311	Greek	European	2,280	2,355	2,478	2,475
41411	Burmese	Asian	573	726	2,187	2,475
44412	Bangladeshi	Asian	1,140	1,488	1,623	2,337
12920	Danish	European	1,995	1,932	1,986	2,214
12999	European	European	477	942	2,637	1,968
12940	Swedish	European	1,119	1,254	1,401	1,911
12950	Zimbabwean European	European		2,556	1,617	1,872
51117	Israeli/Jewish	MELAA	1,599	1,599	1,353	1,854
52111	Argentinian	MELAA			726	1,824
12919	Czech	European	600	756	1,083	1,740
37140	Tahitian	Pacific	1,200	1,329	1,407	1,737
53119	Somali	MELAA	1,971	2,319	1,617	1,701
12926	Hungarian	European	894	1,212	1,365	1,638
41499	Southeast Asian	Asian			723	1,638
53121	Ethiopian	MELAA		1,032	1,242	1,635
43119	South African Indian	Asian	1,632
52115	Colombian	MELAA			654	1,620
41413	Laotian	Asian	1,401	1,344	1,374	1,608
51114	Egyptian	MELAA	942	1,173	1,110	1,533
12933	Romanian	European	522	1,554	1,452	1,485
52123	Mexican	MELAA			711	1,425
42112	Cambodian Chinese	Asian			132	1,413
44416	Eurasian	Asian		1,614	1,365	1,389
12932	Portuguese	European			942	1,365
51127	Turkish	European			957	1,320
51113	Assyrian	MELAA	1,176	1,683	1,497	1,293
12514	Serbian	European	753	1,029	1,056	1,284
12942	Ukrainian	European			852	1,281
51120	Lebanese	MELAA	1,017	999	1,044	1,278
61113	Indigenous American	Other			750	1,278
12913	Austrian	European	891	993	1,029	1,272
12931	Norwegian	European			810	1,131
37135	Papua New Guinean	Pacific			807	1,131
53127	Other Zimbabwean	MELAA	1,068
53118	Caribbean	MELAA			807	1,047
53199	African	MELAA	1,902	1,029	1,158	1,005
	Not specified^a		150,702	167,784	230,646	0

• 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

+Ethnic groups by regional council area, 2018 census^[9]
Region	European		Maori		Pacific		Asian				Other
	Num.	%	Num.	%	Num.	%	Num.	%	Num.	%	Num.	%
	130,971	73.1	64,458	36.0	7,542	4.2	7,041	3.9	900	0.5	2,124	1.2
	841,386	53.5	181,194	11.5	243,966	15.5	442,674	28.2	35,838	2.3	16,746	1.1
	340,800	74.4	109,488	23.9	20,742	4.5	43,775	9.5	5,127	1.1	5,619	1.2
	227,100	73.6	89,778	29.1	10,926	3.5	22,122	7.2	2,181	0.7	3,282	1.1
	27,612	58.1	25,135	52.9	2,130	4.5	1,341	2.8	213	0.4	438	0.9
	124,797	75.0	44,931	27.0	9,351	5.6	8,253	5.0	927	0.6	1,839	1.1
	99,660	84.8	23,298	19.8	2,520	2.1	5,331	4.5	699	0.6	1,677	1.4
	189,597	79.4	54,570	22.9	10,140	4.2	15,375	6.4	1,836	0.8	3,369	1.4
	378,255	74.6	72,252	14.3	42,774	8.4	65,601	12.9	9,492	1.9	7,263	1.4
North Island	2,360,178	65.7	665,103	18.5	350,091	9.7	611,493	17.0	57,213	1.6	42,357	1.2
	48,534	92.6	4,572	8.7	861	1.6	1,452	2.8	246	0.5	792	1.5
	44,124	86.7	5,421	10.7	1,194	2.3	3,591	7.1	432	0.8	747	1.5
	41,571	87.8	6,318	13.3	1,464	3.1	1,929	4.1	402	0.8	771	1.6
	28,575	90.5	3,687	11.7	477	1.5	1,068	3.4	168	0.5	576	1.8
	494,340	82.4	56,298	9.4	18,927	3.2	66,672	11.1	7,314	1.2	8,307	1.4
	195,720	86.9	19,521	8.7	6,099	2.7	15,987	7.1	4,014	1.8	3,054	1.4
	84,324	86.5	14,484	14.9	2,523	2.6	5,406	5.5	540	0.6	1,428	1.5
South Island	937,188	84.8	110,301	10.0	31,545	2.9	96,105	8.7	13,116	1.2	15,675	1.4
New Zealand	3,297,864	70.2	775,836	16.5	381,642	8.1	707,598	15.1	70,332	1.5	58,053	1.2

In images

See also

• Demographics of New Zealand

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cultural diversity. 2013 Census QuickStats about national highlights. Statistics New Zealand. 18 August 2017. 3 December 2013.
2. Book: Rocha. Zarine L.. "Mixed Race" Identities in Asia and the Pacific: Experiences from Singapore and New Zealand. 2015. Routledge. 9781317390787. 27. 10 December 2017.
3. Web site: Classifications and related statistical standards – Ethnicity . Statistics New Zealand . June 2005 . 13 November 2016.
4. Encyclopedia: Fraenkel. Jon. Pacific Islands and New Zealand. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 18 August 2017. 20 June 2012.
5. Web site: September 2017. HISO 10001:2017 Ethnicity Data Protocols. Ministry of Health (New Zealand).
6. Web site: 2006 Census Data - QuickStats About Culture and Identity. Statistics New Zealand. 19 Nov 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20120713025657/http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Census/2006-reports/quickstats-subject/Culture-Identity/qstats-about-culture-and-identity-2006-census.pdf. 13 July 2012. dead.
7. Web site: Ethnic group profiles. Statistics New Zealand. 18 August 2017.
8. Web site: 2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights Stats NZ. www.stats.govt.nz. 2019-09-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20190923102431/https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights. 23 September 2019. dead.
9. Web site: 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. 2020-03-03.