Demographic features of the population of Tuvalu include the age structure, ethnicity, education level, life expectancy, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Demographic features of the population of Tuvalu include the age structure, ethnicity, education level, life expectancy, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The population of Tuvalu is predominately of Polynesian ethnicity with approximately 5.6% of the population being Micronesian. [1] Tuvaluans are ethnically related to the people of Samoa and Tonga. There is evidence for a dual genetic origin of Pacific Islanders in Asia and Melanesia, which results from an analysis of Y chromosome (NRY) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers. There is also evidence of Fiji playing a pivotal role in west-to-east expansion within Polynesia. [2] The pattern of settlement believed to have occurred is that the Polynesians spread out from the Samoan Islands into the Tuvaluan atolls, with Tuvalu providing a stepping stone to migration into the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia and Micronesia. [3] [4] [5] [6]
The vast majority of Tuvaluans belong to the Church of Tuvalu, a Protestant denomination. Their ancestors were converted by Christian missionaries in the 19th century.
Infant mortality in Tuvalu was 25 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012, with an under-five mortality rate of 30 deaths per 1,000 live births. There has been a consistent decline in the under-five mortality rate since 1990. [7]
School attendance at school is 10 years for males and 11 years for females (2001). [8] Adult literacy rate is 99.0% (2002). [9]
Life expectancy for women in Tuvalu is 68.41 years and 64.01 years for men (2015 est.). [8]
The population of Tuvalu is recorded by the Central Statistics Department (CSD) of Tuvalu in the census information: [11]
The net migration rate is estimated at -6.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2015 est.). [8] The threat of global warming in Tuvalu is not a dominant motivation for migration as Tuvaluans appear to prefer to continue living on the islands for reasons of lifestyle, culture and identity. [12]
The Census Monograph on Migration, Urbanization and Youth provides an analysis of the 2012 census and reported: [13]
| 1979 Census | 1985 Census | 1991 Census | 2002 Census | 2012 Census | 2017 Census |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,349 [14] | 8,229 [14] | 9,043 [14] | 9,359 [14] | 10,640 [14] | 10,507 [14] |
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 5 488 | 5 157 | 10 645 | 100 |
| 0–4 | 625 | 535 | 1 160 | 10.90 |
| 5–9 | 628 | 577 | 1 205 | 11.32 |
| 10–14 | 541 | 471 | 1 012 | 9.51 |
| 15–19 | 499 | 454 | 953 | 8.95 |
| 20–24 | 482 | 458 | 940 | 8.83 |
| 25–29 | 502 | 421 | 923 | 8.67 |
| 30–34 | 407 | 362 | 769 | 7.22 |
| 35–39 | 299 | 280 | 579 | 5.44 |
| 40–44 | 242 | 212 | 454 | 4.26 |
| 45–49 | 251 | 227 | 478 | 4.49 |
| 50–54 | 314 | 272 | 586 | 5.50 |
| 55–59 | 257 | 322 | 579 | 5.44 |
| 60–64 | 198 | 223 | 421 | 3.95 |
| 65-69 | 117 | 155 | 272 | 2.56 |
| 70-74 | 64 | 72 | 136 | 1.28 |
| 75-79 | 41 | 58 | 99 | 0.93 |
| 80-84 | 16 | 43 | 59 | 0.55 |
| 85+ | 5 | 15 | 20 | 0.19 |
| Age group | Male | Female | Total | Percent |
| 0–14 | 1 794 | 1 583 | 3 377 | 31.72 |
| 15–64 | 3 451 | 3 231 | 6 682 | 62.77 |
| 65+ | 243 | 343 | 586 | 5.50 |
| Year | Population [17] | Live births | Deaths | Natural increase | Crude birth rate | Crude death rate | Rate of natural increase | TFR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 10,574 | 257 | 86 | 171 | 24.3 | 8.1 | 16.2 | 3.449 |
| 2019 | 10,273 | 251 | 140 | 111 | 24.4 | 13.6 | 10.8 | 3.420 |
| 2020 | 10,204 | 309 | 136 | 173 | 30.3 | 13.3 | 17.0 | 4.204 |
| 2021 [18] | 10,280 | 276 | 112 | 164 | 26.8 | 10.9 | 16.0 | 3.867 |
| 2022 | 10,597 | 267 | 80 | 187 | 25.2 | 7.5 | 17.6 | |
| 2023 | 10,099 | 232 | 127 | 105 | 23.0 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 3.302 |
The 2013 Census of New Zealand reported 3,537 Tuvaluans, an increase of 80% from the 1,965 reported in the 2001 census. In the 2013 census, only about 40% (1,419) had been born in Tuvalu. The high proportion of Tuvaluans who are New Zealand born illustrates the significance of New Zealand as a long term destination for Tuvaluan migrants. [13] [19]
The Tuvaluan community in Australia is recorded in the 2011 Australian Census as 228 people who put Tuvaluan as their first response to a question on ‘ancestry’; of these 120 were born in Tuvalu. [13] The islands of Nanumea, Nanumaga, Nukufetau and Niutao had relatively high net migration losses, with most being internal migrants to Funafuti. Vaitupu had the largest net migration gain, although this is attributed to the location of Motufoua Secondary School on Vaitupu and the movement of students from the other islands. [13]
Tuvalu is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands, northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji.
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians, so the origins of the people of Tuvalu can be traced to the spread of humans out of Southeast Asia, from Taiwan, via Melanesia and across the Pacific islands of Polynesia.
Tuvaluan, often called Tuvalu, is a Polynesian language closely related to the Ellicean group spoken in Tuvalu. It is more or less distantly related to all other Polynesian languages, such as Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tongan, and most closely related to the languages spoken on the Polynesian Outliers in Micronesia and Northern and Central Melanesia. Tuvaluan has borrowed considerably from Samoan, the language of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania or any other island located in the Pacific Ocean.
Vaitupu is the largest atoll of the nation of Tuvalu. It is located at 7.48 degrees south and 178.83 degrees east. There are 1,061 people living on 5.6 square kilometres with the main village being Asau.
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976, and were administered as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) until they became independent. The history of GEIC was mainly characterized by phosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978, and the Gilbert Islands with Banaba became part of Kiribati in 1979.
Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, with an Urheimat in Taiwan. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily within the Austronesian language family. The Indigenous Māori people form the largest Polynesian population, followed by Samoans, Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans, and Cook Islands Māori.
Nanumea is the northwesternmost atoll in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu, a group of nine coral atolls and islands spread over about 400 miles (640 km) of the Pacific Ocean just south of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Nanumea is 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) with a population of 512 people.
Nui is an atoll and one of nine districts of the Pacific Ocean state of Tuvalu. It has a land area of 3.37 km2 and a population of 610.
Niutao is a reef island in the northern part of Tuvalu. It is one of the nine districts (islands) of Tuvalu. It is also one of the three districts that consist of only one island — not counting the three islets inside the closed lagoon. Niutao has a population of 582.
Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian societies that geographically lie outside the main region of Polynesian influence, known as the Polynesian Triangle; instead, Polynesian outliers are scattered in the two other Pacific subregions, Melanesia and Micronesia. Based on archaeological and linguistic analysis, these islands are considered to have been colonized by seafaring Polynesians, mostly from the area of Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu.
Anuta is a small volcanic island in the province of Temotu in the southeastern part of Solomon Islands. It is one of the smallest permanently inhabited Polynesian islands. It is one of the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia.
Kioa is an island in Fiji, an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fiji's two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa was purchased by settlers from Vaitupu atoll in Tuvalu, who came between 1947 and 1962.
The Christian Church of Tuvalu, is a Christian church and is the largest religious denomination in the country. This status entitles it to "the privilege of performing special services on major national events"; its adherents comprise about 86% of the 11,600 inhabitants of the archipelago.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tuvalu:
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including linguistic relations, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night.
Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) on Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu is the only hospital in the country, and the primary provider of medical services for all the islands of Tuvalu. The hospital is located about 1.3 kilometres north from the centre of Funafuti on Fongafale islet.
Women in Tuvalu continue to maintain a traditional Polynesian culture within a predominantly Christian society. Tuvaluan cultural identity is sustained through an individual's connection to their home island. In the traditional community system in Tuvalu, each family has its own task, or salanga, to perform for the community. The skills of a family are passed on from parents to children. The women of Tuvalu participate in the traditional music of Tuvalu and in the creation of the art of Tuvalu including using cowrie and other shells in traditional handicrafts. There are opportunities of further education and paid employment with non-government organisations (NGOs) and government enterprises, education and health agencies being the primary opportunities for Tuvaluan women.
This timeline of the history of Tuvalu chronologically lists important events occurring within the present political boundaries of the Pacific island state of Tuvalu. This time line is introduced by the theories as to the origins of the Polynesian people and the migration across the Pacific Ocean to create Polynesia, which includes the islands of Tuvalu.
Tuvaluan mythology tells stories of the creation of the islands of Tuvalu and of the founding ancestors of each island. While on some of the islands there are stories of spirits creating the islands, a creation story that is found on many of the islands is that te Pusi mo te Ali created the islands of Tuvalu; te Ali is believed to be the origin of the flat atolls of Tuvalu and te Pusi is the model for the coconut palms that are important in the lives of Tuvaluans. The strength of this belief has the consequence that Moray eel are tapu and are not eaten.
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