Ethnic groups
The population of Fiji is mostly made up of native Fijians, who are Melanesians (54.3%), although many also have Polynesian ancestry, and Indo-Fijians (38.1%), descendants of Indian contract labourers brought to the islands by the British colonial powers in the 19th century. The percentage of the population of Indo-Fijian descent has declined significantly over the last two decades due to migration for various reasons.Indo-Fijians suffered reprisals for a period after the Fiji coup of 2000. There is also a small but significant group of descendants of indentured labourers from the Solomon Islands.
About 1.2% are Rotuman — natives of Rotuma Island, whose culture has more in common with countries such as Tonga or Samoa than with the rest of Fiji. There are also small but economically significant groups of Europeans, Chinese, and other Pacific island minorities. The total membership of other ethnic groups of Pacific Islanders is about 7,300.
Relationships between ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijians in the political arena have often been strained, and the tension between the two communities has dominated politics in the islands for the past generation. The level of political tension varies among different regions of the country.
Religion
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| muslims mosque |
According to the 2007 census, 64.4% of the population at the time was Christian, while 27.9% was Hindu, 6.3% Muslim, 0.8% non-religious, 0.3% Sikh, and the remaining 0.3% belonged to other religions. Among Christians, 54% were counted as Methodist, followed by 14.2% Catholic, 8.9% Assemblies of God, 6.0% Seventh-day Adventist, 1.2% Anglican with the remaining 16.1% belonging to other denominations.
The largest Christian denomination is the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma. With 34.6% of the population (including almost two-thirds of ethnic Fijians), the proportion of the population adhering to Methodism is higher in Fiji than in any other nation. In 2012, permission was granted by the government for Methodists to hold their annual conference, for the first time in four years, with the conditions that the conference not coincide with the national Hibiscus Festival and should only last for three days, and that no political matters were to be discussed, only church matters.
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| Christian Church |
Roman Catholics are headed by the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Suva, whose province also includes the dioceses of Rarotonga (on the Cook Islands, for those and Niue, both New Zealand-associated countries) and Tarawa and Nauru (with see at Tarawa on Kiribati, also for Nauru) and the Mission Sui Iuris of Tokelau (again with New Zealand). This reflects that much major Roman Catholic missionary activity was conducted through the former Apostolic Prefecture (created in 1863 from the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Oceania), then Apostolic Vicariate of Fiji, which has since been promoted to Archdiocese of Suva, which spans the whole of Fiji.
Furthermore, the Assemblies of God, the Seventh-day Adventists and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) are significant. Fiji also is the base for the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia (part of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia). These and other denominations have small numbers of Indo-Fijian members; Christians of all kinds comprised 6.1% of the Indo-Fijian population in the 1996 census.
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| hindu tample |
Hindus belong mostly to the Sanatan sect (74.3% of all Hindus) or else are unspecified (22%). The small Arya Samaj sect claims the membership of some 3.7% of Hindus in Fiji. Muslims are mostly Sunni (96.4%) following the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, with a small Ahmadiyya minority (3.6%). The Sikh religion comprises 0.9% of the Indo-Fijian population, or 0.4% of the national population in Fiji. Their ancestors originated from the Punjab region of India; they are a fairly recent wave of immigrants who did not live through the indenture system. The Bahá'í Faith has over 21 local Spiritual Assemblies throughout Fiji, and Baha'is live in more than 80 localities. The first Baha'i in the islands was a New Zealander who arrived in 1924. There is a small Congregational presence with the Samoan community in Suva. The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa built a church of Samoan architecture in Suva. A remnant of the LMS presence in Fiji. There is also a small Jewish population of about 60 people. Every year the Israeli Embassy organises a Passover celebration with about 50–60 people attending.
Languages
The Fiji Islands developed many dialects, which may be classified in two major branches — eastern and western. Missionaries in the 1840s chose an Eastern dialect, the speech of Bau Island off the southeast coast of the main island of Viti Levu, to be the written standard of the Fijian language. Bau Island was home to Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the chief who eventually became the self-proclaimed King of Fiji.
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