Demographics of Fiji

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indigenous Fijians, the native inhabitants of Fiji, are a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian, resulting from the original migrations to the South Pacific many centuries ago. The Indo-Fijian population has grown rapidly from the 61,000 indentured laborers brought from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the sugarcane fields. Thousands more Indians migrated voluntarily in the 1920s and 1930s and formed the core of Fiji's business class.

The native Fijians live throughout the country, while the Indo-Fijians reside primarily near the urban centers and in the cane-producing areas of the two main islands. Nearly all of the indigenous Fijians are Christian, with some two-thirds being Methodist. Some 77 percent of the Indo-Fijians are Hindu, with a further 16 percent being Muslim and 6 percent Christian. There are also a few Sikhs.

A national census is supposed to be conducted every ten years. The last was held in 1996, but the census intended for 2006 has been postponed till 2007. Finance Minister Ratu Jone Kubuabola announced on 27 October 2005 that the Cabinet had decided that it would not be in the country's interest to have a census and a general election in the same year. "Peoples’ focus on the elections could have an impact on their cooperation with census officials," he said. The Statistics Office supported Kubuabola's announcement, saying that public interest in the general election would likely distract people's attention from the census, making it problematic to conduct.

[edit] Miscellaneous figures

Population: 840,201 (31 December 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (male 141,779; female 136,212)
15-64 years: 63% (male 263,127; female 262,686)
65 years and over: 4% (male 13,405; female 15,285) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.41% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 23.48 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 5.78 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 14.45 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 estimate)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 67.94 years
male: 65.54 years
female: 70.45 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.89 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Fijian(s)
adjective: Fijian

Ethnic groups: Indigenous Fijian 54.3% (predominantly Melanesian with a Polynesian admixture), Indo-Fijian 38.1%, European, other Pacific Islanders, overseas Chinese, and other 7.6% (31 December 2004 estimate)

[edit] Religions (1996 census)

Religion	Indigenous Fijian		Indo-Fijian		Others		TOTAL
Religion	393,575	%	338,818	%	42,684	%	775,077	%
Methodist	261,972	66.6	5,432	1.6	13,224	31.0	280,628	36.2
Roman Catholic	52,163	13.3	3,520	1.0	13,637	31.9	69,320	8.9
Assemblies of God	24,717	6.2	4,620	1.4	1,735	4.1	31,072	4.0
Seventh-day Adventist	19,896	5.1	572	0.2	1,719	4.0	22,187	2.9
Anglican	2,508	0.6	1,208	0.4	2,609	6.2	6,325	0.8
Jehovah's Witness	4,815	1.2	486	0.1	801	1.9	6,102	0.8
CMF (Every Home)	5,149	1.3	269	0.1	255	0.6	5,673	0.7
Latter Day Saints	2,253	0.6	633	0.2	589	1.4	3,475	0.4
Apostolic	2,237	0.6	250	0.1	106	0.2	2,593	0.3
Gospel	618	0.2	514	0.2	222	0.5	1,354	0.2
Baptist	695	0.2	382	0.1	219	0.5	1,296	0.2
Salvation Army	628	0.2	251	0.1	110	0.3	989	0.1
Presbyterian	105	0.0	90	0.0	188	0.4	383	0.0
Other Christian	12,624	3.2	2,492	0.7	2,969	7.0	18,085	2.3
All Christians	390,380	99.2	20,719	6.1	38,383	89.9	449,482	58.0
Sanatan	551	0.1	193,061	57.0	315	0.7	193,927	25.0
Arya Samaj	44	0.0	9,493	2.8	27	0.1	9,564	1.2
Kabir Panthi	43	0.0	73	0.0	2	0.0	118	0.0
Satya Sai Baba	7	0.0	52	0.0	1	0.0	60	0.0
Other Hindu	219	0.1	57,096	16.9	113	0.3	57,428	7.4
All Hindus	864	0.2	259,775	76.7	458	1.1	261,097	33.7
Sunni Islam	175	0.0	32,082	9.5	94	0.2	32,351	4.2
Ahmadiya	18	0.0	1,944	0.6	14	0.0	1,976	0.3
Other Muslim	131	0.0	19,727	5.8	138	0.3	19,996	2.6
All Muslims	324	0.1	53,753	15.9	246	0.6	54,323	7.0
Sikh	0	0.0	3,076	0.9	0	0.0	3,067	0.4
Bahá'í	389	0.1	25	0.0	149	0.3	563	0.1
Confucianism	8	0.0	21	0.0	336	0.8	365	0.0
Other religions	61	0.0	314	0.1	664	1.6	1,039	0.1
No religion†	1549	0.4	1,135	0.3	2,448	5.7	5,132	0.7