Demographics of Fiji
| Population | 869,458 (2015 est.) |
|---|---|
| Density | 49.4/km2 |
| Birth rate | 19.8 (2014 est.) |
| Death rate | 6.0 (2014 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 72.1 (2014 est.) |
| • male | 69.5 |
| • female | 74.9 |
| Fertility rate | 2.5 (2014 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | 10.2 (2014 est.) |
| 0–14 years | 28.2% (2014 est.) |
| 15–64 years | 66.0 (2014 est.) |
| 65 and over | 5.6% (2014 est.) |
| Total | 1.03 males/females (2014 est.) |
| At birth | 1.05 males/females (2014 est.) |
| Under 15 | 1.05 males/females (2014 est.) |
| 15–64 years | 1.04 males/females (2014 est.) |
| 65 and over | 0.85 males/females (2014 est.) |
| Nationality | noun Fijian(s), adj. Fijian |
| Major ethnic | 56.8% Itaukei (2007 est.) |
| Minor ethnic | 37.5% Indian, 1.2% Rotuman (2007 est.) |
| Official | English, Fijian |
| Spoken | Hindustani |
The demographic characteristics of the population of Fiji are known through censuses, usually conducted in ten-year intervals, and has been analysed by statistical bureaus since the 1880s. The Fijian Bureau of Statistics (FBOS) has performed this task since 1996, the first enumerated Fiji census when an independent country. The 2007 census found that the permanent population of Fiji was 837,000. The population density at the time was 45.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the overall life expectancy in Fiji was 72.1 years. Since the 1930s the population of Fiji has increased at a rate of 1.1% per year. Since the 1950s, Fiji's birth rate has continuously exceeded its death rate. The population is dominated by the 15–64 age segment. The median age of the population was 27.9, and the gender ratio of the total population was 1.03 males per 1 female.
Indigenous Fijians, the native inhabitants of Fiji, are a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian, resulting from the original migrations to the South Pacific over time. The Indo-Fijian population increased rapidly from the 61,000 people brought from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the sugarcane fields, many who later would lease/own the sugar cane plantations. Thousands more Indians migrated voluntarily in the 1920s and 1930s and formed the core of Fiji's business class.
In 1977 The Economist reported that ethnic Fijians were a minority of 255,000, in a total population of 600,000 of which fully half were of Indian descent, with the remainder Chinese, European and of mixed ancestry. Fiji shares with Kazakhstan the distinction of its indigenous ethnic group having been a minority in its own country in recent history but having since regained its majority, in both cases due to large-scale emigration and lower birth rates of the non-indigenous ethnic population.
The native Fijians live throughout the country, while the Indo-Fijians reside primarily near the urban centres 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. The Indo-Fijians, by contrast, have a similar religious mix as their homeland: 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.
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