The Population of Fiji

Abstract

N MOST island groups in the South Pacific native populations are steadily increasing, and in some groups, such as Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga, the rates of natural increase are among the highest in the world. But in Fiji the more than 25 per cent increase in the indigenous population between 1946 and 1956 is overshadowed by an increase in the Indian population of no less than 40 per cent in the same decade.' The indigenous Fijians have been outnumbered since 1944, and today almost half of the population of Fiji is Indian. The total population increased by one-third in the intercensal period 1946-1956. Large areas of the colony still remain forest-covered and virtually uninhabited, but little of this land is suitable for permanent agricultural settlement above a bare subsistence level. Heavy concentrations of population are found in coastal areas, particularly in the drier, western parts of the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu (Fig. 1). Here fragmentation of holdings, severe erosion, and declining crop yields, together with the nonavailability of unused land of even moderate quality, all point to a situation in which continued population growth must give cause for grave concern. In the postwar years the seriousness of the situation has been masked to some extent as rising prices of agricultural produce have compensated for the fact that the volume of exports per head has not increased. Imports have increased, however, and this has resulted in an adverse balance of trade in several years since 1950. The census of 1956 showed the population of Fiji to be 345,737, of whom 49 per cent were Indians and 43 per cent Fijians. Europeans, part-Europeans, Chinese, Rotumans, and Other Pacific Islanders made up the remaining 8 per cent (Table I).