Ethnic group
Kiribati New Zealanders refers to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents who are fully or partially of I-Kiribati descent. According to the 2018 census, 3,225 New Zealanders declared their ethnicity as Kiribati.[1]
Demographics
I-Kiribati people are classified as a subset of Pasifika New Zealanders under the Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification by Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa.[2] According to the 2006 Census, there were 1,116 Kiribati New Zealanders in New Zealand, which has tripled to 3,225 in the 2018 Census.[1]
As of 2018, only 41.3% of Kiribati New Zealanders were born in New Zealand. 58.7% were born overseas, most of them in Kiribati, with smaller groups of I-Kiribati immigrants born in Australia, Tuvalu and the United States.[1]
43.7% of New Zealand residents who declared their ethnicity as I-Kiribati live in the Auckland Region. The Kiribati community is especially prominent in the country town of Warkworth, where Gilbertese is the second most spoken language. Smaller I-Kiribati communities exist in the Waikato region and in Wellington.[3]
Organisations
New Zealand's Kiribati associations include the nationwide New Zealand Kiribati National Council, the Warkworth-based Kiribati Aotearoa Diaspora Directorate and the Otago Kiribati Islands Students' Association in Dunedin.[4][5][6]
Clendon Park in South Auckland is home to the Kiribati Uniting Church NZ.[7]
Kiribati Language Week is a yearly event organised by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.[8]
References