New Zealand European

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New Zealand European
Total population
2,381,076 59.1% of the population[1]
Regions with significant populations
North Island, South Island, Australia
Languages
English
Religions
Christianity 60.0%   Anglicanism 19.2%   Catholicism 13.4%   Presbyterianism 13.6% no religion 32.2%  object to answer 7.1%
Related ethnic groups
Anglo-African, Afrikaner, English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, White British, Anglo-Celtic Australian, White African, White American and other Whites

The term New Zealand European refers to New Zealand residents of European descent who identify as New Zealand Europeans rather than some more specific European group. Most European New Zealanders are of British and Irish ancestry, with smaller percentages of other European ancestries such as Dutch, German and South Slav.^[2]

Contents 1 Census statistics 2 Alternative terms 2.1 Pākehā 2.2 British New Zealander 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Census statistics

The 2006 Census counted 2,381,076 New Zealand Europeans, or 59.1% of those who gave their ethnicity. Most Census reports do not separate New Zealand Europeans from the broader European ethnic category, which was the largest broad ethnic category in the 2006 Census. Europeans comprised 67.6 percent of respondents in 2006 compared with 80.1 percent in the 2001 census.^[3] The apparent drop in this figure was due to Statistics New Zealand's acceptance of 'New Zealander' as a distinct response to the ethnicity question, along with an email campaign asking people to give this as their ethnicity in the 2006 Census^[4]. In previous Censuses, these responses were counted belonging to the New Zealand European group. ^[1] Eleven percent of respondents identified as New Zealanders in the 2006 Census (or as something similar, e.g. "Kiwi"),^[5] well above the trend observed in previous Censuses, and higher than the percentage seen in other surveys that year.^[6]

[edit] Alternative terms

[edit] Pākehā

Main article: Pākehā

The term Pākehā is often used interchangeably with New Zealand European (although Pākehā can also be used to describe any non-Māori person). New Zealanders who consider "European" to be anachronistic and inadequate often prefer Pākehā, feeling that this better describes their ethnic and cultural identity. However, some New Zealanders of European descent^[who?] do not like the word Pākehā and consider it to be racist and pejorative.

[edit] British New Zealander

See also: British people

As the vast majority of European New Zealanders are of British Isles ethnic origin, a sense of 'Britishness' has historically figured prominently in the identity of many New Zealanders. ^[7] As late as the 1950s it was common for New Zealanders to refer to themselves as British, such as when Prime Minister Keith Holyoake described Sir Edmund Hillary's successful ascent of Mt. Everest as "[putting] the British race and New Zealand on top of the world".^[8] New Zealand passports described nationals as "British Subject and New Zealand Citizen" until 1974, when this was changed to "New Zealand Citizen".^[9]

While "European" identity predominates political discourse in New Zealand today, the term "British" is still used by some New Zealanders to explain their ethnic origins. Others see the term as better describing previous generations; for instance, journalist Colin James referred to "we ex-British New Zealanders" in a 2005 speech.^[10] It remains a relatively uncontroversial descriptor of ancestry.

In an interview with the New Zealand Listener in 2006, the opposition leader of that time, Don Brash, made the following statement:

“

British immigrants fit in here very well. My own ancestry is all British. New Zealand values are British values, derived from centuries of struggle since Magna Carta. Those things make New Zealand the society it is.[11]

”

[edit] See also

• Immigration to New Zealand
• Europeans in Oceania

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stats NZ site