Tertiary attainment

Ethnic differences

Māori and Pacific people aged 25 to 34 are much less likely than people of the same age from Asian, European or other ethnic groups to have a tertiary qualification at bachelor’s degree level or above. 

The gap between ethnic groups decreased between 1991 and 2006, as the proportion of Māori and Pacific people with a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification increased at a faster rate than that of all other ethnic groups.

Proportion of people aged 25 to 34 who have a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification by ethnicity, selected years, 1991-2006
Ethnicity 1991 (%) 1996 (%) 2001 (%) 2006 (%)
European 10.5 14.1 18.5 27.4
Māori 2.3 4.2 6.9 11.3
Pacific Peoples 2.7 4.0 6.2 9.3
Asian 25.9 38.2 34.7 44.5
Other ethnicity 22.2 37.1 28.8 32.4

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Census. The category European includes ‘New Zealander’ responses. 

Note

We encourage you to be cautious about drawing conclusions from comparisons between ethnic groups.  Apparent differences (in unadjusted data) between ethnic groups can often be explained by factors other than ethnicity per se, such as the different age, sex, geographical and socioeconomic distributions of different ethnic populations.  In addition, datasets vary in the way that they collect and record ethnicity data.