The Geographical Mobility of Maori in New Zealand

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Document Format: Motu Working Paper

Publication Year: 2005

Abstract

This paper describes the geographical location and internal mobility of the Mâori ethnic group in
New Zealand between 1991 and 2001. It is often suggested that Mâori are less mobile than other
ethnic groups because of attachment to particular geographical locations. We compare the mobility of
Mâori in particular locations to the mobility of similar Europeans in those same locations and find
that, contrary to this anecdotal evidence, most Mâori are, on average, more mobile than Europeans in
New Zealand. We do find that the roughly forty percent of Mâori who live in areas local to their iwi
(tribe) are less mobile than comparable Europeans in those same areas. Defining local areas both based
on both traditional iwi locations and current iwi populations, we find suggestive evidence that social
ties are more important than land-based attachment in explaining why these Mâori are relatively less
mobile, but that land-based attachment is also an important impediment to mobility.