The country's population has more than doubled since 1980 with a growth rate of 0.702%. The population at the 2002 census was 9,561,and the population at the 2012 census was 10,837 (2012 Population & Housing Census Preliminary Analytical Report). The population of Tuvalu is primarily of Polynesian ethnicity with approximately 4% of the population being Micronesian. The net migration rate is estimated at −7.02 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)
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Population of Tuvalu
03/08/2019
From 1947 to 1983 a number of Tuvaluans from Vaitupu migrated to Kioa, an island in Fiji. The settlers from Tuvalu were granted Fijian citizenship in 2005. In recent years New Zealand and Australia are the primary destinations for migration or seasonal work.
In 2014 attention was drawn to an appealed to the New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal against the deportation of a Tuvaluan family on the basis that they were "climate change refugees", who would suffer hardship resulting from the environmental degradation of Tuvalu. However the subsequent grant of residence permits to the family was made on grounds unrelated to the refugee claim.
The family was successful in their appeal because, under the relevant immigration legislation, there were "exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian nature" that justified the grant of resident permits as the family was integrated into New Zealand society with a sizeable extended family which had effectively relocated to New Zealand.
Indeed in 2013 a claim of a Kiribati man of being a "climate change refugee" under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) was determined by the New Zealand High Court to be untenable. Permanent migration to Australia and New Zealand, such as for family reunification, requires compliance with the immigration legislation of those countries.
New Zealand has an annual quota of 75 Tuvaluans granted work permits under the Pacific Access Category, as announced in 2001. The applicants register for the Pacific Access Category (PAC) ballots; the primary criteria is that the principal applicant must have a job offer from a New Zealand employer.
Tuvaluans also have access to seasonal employment in the horticulture and viticulture industries in New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Work Policy introduced in 2007 allowing for employment of up to 5,000 workers from Tuvalu and other Pacific islands.
Tuvaluans can participate in the Australian Pacific Seasonal Worker Program, which allows Pacific Islanders to obtain seasonal employment in the Australian agriculture industry, in particular cotton and cane operations; fishing industry, in particular aquaculture; and with accommodation providers in the tourism industry.
Languages
The Tuvaluan language and English are the national languages of Tuvalu. The Kiribati language is also spoken on the island of Nui.
Tuvaluan is of the Ellicean group of Polynesian languages, distantly related to all other Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, Samoan and Tongan.
It is most closely related to the languages spoken on the Polynesian outliers in Micronesia and northern and central Melanesia. The language has borrowed from the Samoan language, as a consequence of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries being predominantly Samoan.
The Tuvaluan language is spoken by virtually everyone, while a language very similar to Gilbertese is spoken on Nui. English is also an official language but is not spoken in daily use. Parliament and official functions are conducted in the Tuvaluan language.
There are about 13,000 Tuvaluan speakers worldwide. The Tuvalu Media Corporation publishes Sikuleo o Tuvalu – Tuvalu Echo (previously: Tuvalu Echoes), a fortnightly newspaper and a news website.