Demographics of the Cook Islands

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Demographic features of the population of the Cook Islands include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

A census is carried out every five years in the Cook Islands. The last census was carried out in 2021 and the next census will be carried out in 2026.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1902	8,213	—
1906	8,518	+3.7%
1911	8,655	+1.6%
1916	8,805	+1.7%
1921	9,459	+7.4%
1926	10,082	+6.6%
1936	12,246	+21.5%
1945	14,088	+15.0%
1951	15,079	+7.0%
1961	18,378	+21.9%
1966	19,247	+4.7%
1971	21,322	+10.8%
1976	18,126	−15.0%
1981	17,743	−2.1%
1986	17,614	−0.7%
1996	19,103	+8.5%
2001	18,027	−5.6%
2006	19,342	+7.3%
2011	17,794	−8.0%
2016	17,434	−2.0%
2021	15,040	−13.7%
Source:

Vital statistics

Births and deaths

Year	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Rate of natural increase	TFR
2001	18,027	315	88	227	21.0			2.9
2002		279	97	182
2003		294	92	202
2004	15,169	297	99	198
2005		275	91	184
2006	19,342	279	85	194	19.1	6.5	12.6	2.5
2007		296	84	212
2008		261	56	205
2009		255	67	188	12.6	3.2	9.4
2010		286	92	194	12.1	3.9	8.2
2011	19,300	262	72	190	17.8	4.9	12.9	2.6
2012	19,500	259	104	155	18.1	7.3	10.8
2013	18,600	256	115	141	18.2	8.2	10.0
2014	18,600	204	113	91	15.0	8.3	6.7
2015	18,400	205	102	103	15.5	7.7	7.8
2016	19,300	242	87	155	20.5	7.4	13.1	2.5
2017	19,500	222	93	129	14.2	6.0	8.3
2018	20,200	239	123	116	15.0	7.7	7.3
2019	20,200	225	105	120	13.2	6.1	7.0
2020	18,500	248	125	123	13.9	7.0	6.9
2021	18,300	202	122	80	11.7	7.1	4.7
2022	19,200	219	116	103	14.0	7.4	6.6

Structure of the population

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 01.XII.2016):

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	8 520	8 914	17 434	100
0–4	710	644	1 354	7.77
5–9	768	733	1 501	8.61
10–14	745	696	1 441	8.27
15–19	664	711	1 375	7.89
20–24	569	656	1 225	7.03
25–29	541	612	1 153	6.61
30–34	482	595	1 077	6.18
35–39	483	533	1 016	5.83
40–44	520	601	1 121	6.43
45–49	599	625	1 224	7.02
50–54	642	623	1 265	7.26
55–59	521	522	1 043	5.98
60–64	405	429	834	4.78
65–69	363	333	696	3.99
70–74	234	248	482	2.76
75–79	159	194	353	2.02
80+	115	159	274	1.57
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	2 223	2 073	4 296	24.64
15–64	5 426	5 907	11 333	65.01
65+	871	934	1 805	10.35

Religion

Main article: Religion in the Cook Islands

Religion in the Cook Islands (CIA World Factbook)

Reformed Church (Cook Islands Christian Church) (49.1%) Adventism (Seventh-day Adventist Church) (7.9%) Pentecostalism (Assemblies of God, Apostolic Church) (5.8%) Catholicism (17%) Mormonism (4.4%) Other (8%) No religion (5.6%) No response (2.2%)

The Cook Islands are majority-Protestant, with almost half the population being members of the Reformed Cook Islands Christian Church. Other Protestant denominations include Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God and the Apostolic Church (the latter two being Pentecostal denominations). The largest non-Protestant denomination are Roman Catholics, followed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Non-Christian faiths including Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam have small followings primarily by non-indigenous inhabitants.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Cook Islanders

The indigenous Polynesian people of the Cook Islands are known as Cook Islands Māori. These include speakers of Cook Islands Māori language, closely related to Tahitian and New Zealand Māori, who form the majority of the population and inhabit the southern islands including Rarotonga; and also the people of Pukapuka, who speak a language more closely related to Samoan. Cook Islanders of non-indigenous descent include other Pacific Island peoples, Papa'a (Europeans), and those of Asian descent.

Ethnic group	Population (2006)	Population (2016)	Percent
Cook Islands Māori	14,938	11,575	78.2
Part Cook Islands Māori	1,045	1,128	7.62
Other	1,349	2,099	14.18
Cook Islands, Total	17,332	14,802	100

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Population pyramid 2011

%	Males	Age	Females	%
0		85+		0
0.5		80–84		0.6
0.7		75–79		0.9
1.4		70–74		1.4
1.9		65–69		1.8
2.2		60–64		2
2.4		55–59		2.4
3		50–54		3
3.6		45–49		3.6
3.4		40–44		3.6
3.1		35–39		3.6
3		30–34		3.3
3.3		25–29		3.8
3.4		20–24		3.7
4.3		15–19		4.1
4.5		10–14		4
4.3		5–9		4.3
4.5		0–4		4.4

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population
- 8,128
Age structure (2022 est.)
- 0–14 years: 18.69% (male 797/female 722)
- 15–24 years: 13.9% (male 606/female 524)
- 25–54 years: 37.66% (male 1,595/female 1,634)
- 55–64 years: 15.69% (male 711/female 564)
- 65 years and over: 14.74% (male 584/female 614)
Population growth rate
- -2.39%
Birth rate
- 12.55 births/1,000 population
Death rate
- 9.1 deaths/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate
- Total: 15.93 deaths/1,000 live births
- Male: 20.02 deaths/1,000 live births
- Female: 11.62 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth
- Total population: 77.14 years
- Male: 74.32 years
- Female: 80.11 years (2022 est.)
Total fertility rate
- 2.07 children born/woman
Nationality
- Cook Islander(s) (Noun)
- Cook Islander (Adjective)
Ethnic groups
- Cook Island Maori (Polynesian) 81.3%
- part Cook Island Maori 6.7%
- Other 11.9%
Religions
- Protestant 62.8%
  - Cook Islands Christian Church 49.1%
  - Seventh-day Adventist 7.9%,
  - Assemblies of God 3.7%
  - Apostolic Church 2.1%,
- Roman Catholic 17%
- Mormon 4.4%,
- Other 8%
  - This "Other" group includes smaller Christian denominations, and mostly non-indigenous adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, as well as the irreligious.
- None 5.6%
- No response 2.2%
Languages
- English (official) 86.4%
- Cook Islands Maori (Rarotongan) (official) 76.2%
- Other 8.3%

v t e Demographics of Oceania
Sovereign states	Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue
Dependencies and other territories	American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna

References

"Census - Cook Islands - Ministry of Finance and Economic Management". Archived from the original on 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
"Census 2016 - Cook Islands - Ministry of Finance and Economic Management". www.mfem.gov.ck. Archived from the original on 2023-05-28. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
"Census 2021 Updates". Archived from the original on 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
"VITAL STATISTICS AND POPULATION ESTIMATES MARCH QUARTER 2020" (PDF). MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
"UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
^ "Australia-Oceania ::: COOK ISLANDS". CIA The World Factbook. 27 April 2023.
^ Crocombe, R. G. (1990). Voluntary Service and Development in the Cook Islands. University of the South Pacific. p. 8. ISBN 9789820200234.
"Te Reo Maori Act 2003". Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2020). "Pukapuka". Glottolog 4.2.1. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
"2016 Cook Islands census" (PDF). mfem.gov.ck. 2016. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
"Demographic Yearbook, Population by age, sex and urban/rural residence: latest available year, 2005–2014" (PDF). UN Data. United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-12-23. Retrieved 4 December 2015.

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