Maori demographics 2006 - Maori ancestry or descent

Māori ancestry in official statistics
The ancestry question in the population census provides a count of people of Māori ancestry that is important for constitutional and legal arrangements in Aotearoa/New Zealand, including the right to enrol on the Māori electoral roll and to take a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal. In the 2006 Census, 643,977 people identified that they had Māori ancestry, 17.7% of the total population of Aotearoa/New Zealand. There were a number of people who identified with the Māori ethnic group, but indicated that they did not know if they had Māori ancestry (6,795) or did not have Māori ancestry (4,059) (Statistics New Zealand 2007c).

Information on iwi affiliation is also collected in the census for those people who identify that they have Māori ancestry. Of the 643,977 persons stating that they had Māori ancestry in the 2006 Census, 80% identified affiliation with one or more of the iwi listed in the iwi classification.

############################
Hauora: Māori Standards of Health IV is the latest edition in the Hauora series, and covers the period 2000 to 2005. The first three chapters situate the health statistics within the broader context, including the theoretical, demographic and socioeconomic contexts. This is followed by chapters on mortality, public hospitalisations, cancer and mental health.

This volume of Hauora also includes a number of topic-based chapters from invited authors, including chapters on cardiovascular disease; diabetes; respiratory disease; oral health; disability; sleep problems; occupational safety and health; health in prisons; and the National Primary Medical Care Survey.

Hauora: Māori Standards of Health IV was funded by the Ministry of Health and the Health Research Council.

http://www.hauora.maori.nz/downloads/hauora_chapter02_web.pdf

Census 2006, Donna Cormack, Hauora IV, Maori demographics,

Maori demographics 2006 - Defining the Maori population

Definitions of the Māori population in official statistics 

Estimates of the Māori population in official statistics are often drawn from the population census. There have been significant changes over time to the way in which ethnicity data has been collected and reported in Aotearoa/New Zealand in official data collections such as the population census. Of significance, this includes a move away from ‘biological’ definitions of Māori based on ‘degrees of blood’ (noted as a
strategy in limiting government obligations to indigenous peoples), to definitions based on affiliation and self-identification with an ethnic group. In line with this, the ethnicity question in the population census has also changed over time and since 1986 has provided for people to self-identify with more than one ethnic group.1

The monitoring of trends over time has been affected by these changes in the definition of ethnicity, but also by the changes in the question used to collect ethnicity data in the five-yearly population census. For example, the ethnicity question in the census changed in the successive 1991, 1996, and 2001 censuses. In particular, the 1996 Census ethnicity question encouraged multiple ethnic affiliations in comparison to the 1991 Census question. In 2001 the census reverted to the 1991 question, and this question was retained for the 2006 Census (Figure 2.1).

The census also contains questions on Māori ancestry (Figure 2.2) and iwi affiliation, which provide other ways of measuring Māori populations. There are three broad Māori populations that can be produced from this current census information. These are:

• Māori ethnic group: all those who identified Māori as at least one of their ethnic group affiliations (2006 = 565,329)
• Sole Māori: those who identified solely with Māori on the ethnicity question (2006 = 289,500)
• Māori ancestry: all those who identified as having Māori ancestry in the ancestry question (2006 = 643,977).

For some purposes, Māori are defined both through ancestry and self-identification. Māori populations can also be defined at other levels, for example iwi and hapū.


############################
Hauora: Māori Standards of Health IV is the latest edition in the Hauora series, and covers the period 2000 to 2005. The first three chapters situate the health statistics within the broader context, including the theoretical, demographic and socioeconomic contexts. This is followed by chapters on mortality, public hospitalisations, cancer and mental health.

This volume of Hauora also includes a number of topic-based chapters from invited authors, including chapters on cardiovascular disease; diabetes; respiratory disease; oral health; disability; sleep problems; occupational safety and health; health in prisons; and the National Primary Medical Care Survey.

Hauora: Māori Standards of Health IV was funded by the Ministry of Health and the Health Research Council.

http://www.hauora.maori.nz/downloads/hauora_chapter02_web.pdf

Maori demographics 2006 - The Maori Population by Donna Cormack

Summary

Key points

• There were 565,329 people who identified as belonging to the Màori ethnic group in the 2006 Census,representing 15% of the total population.
• 18% of the total population (643,977 people) indicated in the 2006 Census that they had Màori ancestry.
• The Màori population continues to grow. Those identifying with Màori ethnicity increased by 7% between the 2001 and 2006 censuses, and by 30% since 1991. The Màori ancestry group also increased by 7% between the 2001 and 2006 censuses, and by 26% since the 1991 census.
• The Màori population is relatively young, with 35% of Màori aged less than 15 years, and 53% aged less than 25 years in 2006. However, the population is ageing overall and the proportion of older Màori (those aged 65 years and over) is projected to increase.
• In spite of a slight narrowing of the gap in life expectancy at birth between Màori and non-Màori in recent years, stark disparities remain. 
• Fertility has decreased for both Màori and non-Màori in the last 50 years, but remains higher for Màori.In 2004, the fertility rate for Màori women was 2.7, compared with 1.9 for non-Màori women. The median age at birth of first child for Màori women was 26 years.
• The majority of Màori live in the North Island (87%) and in urban areas. Màori are more mobile than non-Màori, and were slightly more likely to have moved in the five years between the 2001 and 2006 census. 

######################

Hauora: Māori Standards of Health IV is the latest edition in the Hauora series, and covers the period 2000 to 2005. The first three chapters situate the health statistics within the broader context, including the theoretical, demographic and socioeconomic contexts. This is followed by chapters on mortality, public hospitalisations, cancer and mental health.

This volume of Hauora also includes a number of topic-based chapters from invited authors, including chapters on cardiovascular disease; diabetes; respiratory disease; oral health; disability; sleep problems; occupational safety and health; health in prisons; and the National Primary Medical Care Survey.

Hauora: Māori Standards of Health IV was funded by the Ministry of Health and the Health Research Council.