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Language and Religion in New Zealand

Overview of Religion in New Zealand 

The overview of religion in New Zealand is mentioned below: 

  • Religion in New Zealand comprises a diverse spectrum of groups and beliefs. In the 2018 census, over half of New Zealanders (48.6 percent) indicated no religion, while 6.7 percent made no statement.  
  • Christianity remains the most frequent religion in New Zealand; 37.3 percent of the population was classified as Christian in the 2018 census, with Anglicanism being the largest denomination. Non-Christian faiths are practiced by around 6% of the population.  
  • 2.7 percent of the population, Hinduism is the second-most popular religion in New Zealand, 
  • Sikhism is the fastest-growing religion in New Zealand. 
  • Before European colonization, the indigenous Maori population's religion in New Zealand was polytheistic and animistic.  
  • On Christmas Day 1769, a French priest, Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, led the first Christian service in the New Zealand seas. Rev. Samuel Marsden held the first Christian service on land on Christmas Day, 1814. Following the efforts of missionaries and the early church, most Maori converted to Christianity.  
  • The bulk of European immigration in the nineteenth century came from the British Isles, creating the three largest British Christian denominations religion in New Zealand: Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Presbyterianism.  
  • Because of the tendency of Scottish immigrants to settle in Otago and Southland, Presbyterianism predominated in these areas while Anglicanism predominated elsewhere; this influence can still be seen in religious affiliation numbers today.
  • Since the 1990s, the number of persons identified with the Christianity religion in New Zealand has decreased, while those claiming no religious connection have climbed. With growing immigration to New Zealand, particularly from Asia 
  • The number of people practicing non-Christian religion in New Zealand has grown significantly. 
  • New Zealand has no national religion or established church, and religious freedom has been recognized since the Treaty of Waitangi.  
  • On the other hand, the king of New Zealand needed to be a Protestant. 

Overview of Language in New Zealand 

 The overview of language in New Zealand is mentioned below: 

  • English is New Zealand's primary language and de facto official language. Almost the whole population speaks it, either as a native language or as a second language.  
  • Regarding pronunciation, New Zealand English is most similar to Australian English, with a few notable changes.  
  • In 1987, the Maori language of the indigenous Maori people was designated as the first de jure official language.  
  • Since 2006, New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) has become an official language.  
  • Minority ethnic populations in New Zealand speak a variety of different languages. 
  • Maori is the second most spoken language in 60 of New Zealand's 67 cities and districts.  
  • Immigrants from Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands have brought their languages to New Zealand.  
  • The largest groupings, according to Ethnologue (as of 2017), are Samoan (86,400), Hindi (66,300), Mandarin Chinese (52,300), French (49,100), and Yue Chinese (44,600). These minority languages are concentrated in major cities, notably Auckland, where recent immigrant groups have been established.  
  • In the 2018 census, 115,830 people who spoke at least one language did not mention English as one of them. 
  • Since the 2001 census, the number and proportion of multilingual have increased. The number of multilingual persons in the 2018 census was 946,275, or 20.6 percent of respondents who spoke at least one language.  
  • The regions with the most significant percentage of multilingual speakers were Auckland (30.9%) and Wellington (21.2%). 

Language is spoken in different parts of New Zealand 

The following are the second-most spoken languages in the remaining seven cities and districts: 

  • In Auckland and Porirua, Samoan is the second most spoken language. 
  • French is the second most commonly spoken language in Wellington. 
  • Tagalog is the district's second most widely spoken language. 
  • German is the second most widely spoken language in the Tasman region. 
  • Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the Mackenzie and Queenstown-Lake areas. 

 

 

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