Te iwitanga i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui Ethnicity in the Public Service

There is increasing ethnic diversity in the Public Service, with the highest proportion of Pacific, Asian, and Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) representation since the Workforce Data collection began in 2000. Europeans1 made up the highest proportion (60.7%) in 2026, although this proportion is trending downwards. Both Māori (16.5%) and Pacific (11.5%) representation in the Public Service workforce continue at higher levels compared to the overall New Zealand working-age population (15.4% and 7.1% respectively in the year to June 2026). Pacific representation grew again this year, following increases every year since 2015.

There was a further increase in the representation of Asian staff (17.0%), following increases in every year since 2012, although this still remains slightly behind Asian representation in the New Zealand working-age population (18.2%). As in recent years, Asians make up a larger proportion of recruits than existing employees – this was 19.3% in 2025/26 and has contributed to the increase in Asian representation. The increase in Asian staff is particularly pronounced in Auckland where Asian staff are 31.1% of Public Service employees in 2026.

Representation of MELAA employees in the Public Service (2.6%), has been increasing steadily since 2015, and is higher than that in the New Zealand working-age population (1.7%).

The ethnic groupings above combine a wide range of individual ethnic identities. Detailed ethnicity data was collected in the 2025 Public Service Census. For example, of the people who responded to the survey:

• 6.3% identified as Indian
• 5.0% as Samoan
• 3.4% as Chinese
• 1.9% as South East Asian
• 1.4% as Cook Island Māori
• 1.4% as Tongan
• 0.7% as Fijian
• 0.6% as Niuean
• 0.6% as Latin American
• 0.5% as African
• 0.4% as Middle Eastern
• 0.2% are people of Tokelau.

Further breakdowns are possible for all groupings. For example, the Other European Group includes the British and Irish group, which can be further broken down into Scottish, Welsh, Irish, English, Channel Islander, and so on.

[1] We use the Stats NZ Ethnicity Standard to produce ethnicity statistics. The European ethnic group is predominately made up of NZ European/Pākehā employees.

The representation of ethnic groups varies across Public Service occupations. European staff are over-represented in higher-paid occupations such as managers and policy analysts, while under-represented as contact centre workers and inspectors and regulatory officers which tend to be lower paid occupations. Māori staff are well represented across most occupation groupings, including managers, where they make up 16.6%. Highest representation for Māori staff is in social, health and education workers, while lowest levels are in ICT professionals and technicians and policy analysts.

Pacific staff are well represented as inspectors and regulatory officers, contact centre workers, social, health and education workers, and clerical and administrative workers, but less so in other professions. Asian staff are particularly well represented as ICT professionals and technicians, and contact centre workers, but are minimally represented as managers: they make up just 7.6% of managers compared to 17.0% of all staff, although this proportion is continuing to increase.

These differences in occupational representation are likely to reflect similar patterns in the wider labour market. For example, 2023 New Zealand population Census results show that Europeans were more likely to be in managerial roles than other New Zealanders. These results also show that Europeans tend to be older than other New Zealanders, and this may be contributing to their higher representation in managerial roles.

Stats NZ European Ethnic Group Summary 

Regional factors are also likely to contribute to these differences in occupational representation. For example, Pacific and Asian public servants are more likely to work in Auckland. The Auckland Public Service workforce has a greater share of inspectors and regulatory officers, social, health and education workers, contact centre workers, and clerical and administrative workers compared to the overall Public Service workforce, and a lower share of other occupational groups.

Ethnic composition(CSV, 2 MB)

Note – Ethnicity percentages are calculated only for those employees who have disclosed their ethnicity. The proportion of employees who disclosed their ethnicity in 2026 was 91.8% down slightly from 92.1% in 2025. This proportion has declined since its record high of 94.3% in 2020. It was lower in previous years, with the lowest level of 86.1% in both 2014 and 2000. 

The Commission obtained customised 2006, 2013, 2018 and 2023 census data from Stats NZ to better understand migrant flow into the Public Service.  Around 33% of Public Service and Administration employees in 2023 were born overseas, up from around 22% in 2006. This was similar to the proportion of all employed New Zealanders (34%) and private sector workers (34%) who were born overseas in 2023. Around 48% of Public Service and Administration employees in Auckland were born overseas. 

Migrants who became New Zealand Public Service and Administration employees have come from more than 100 countries and territories. Commonwealth countries have provided the largest proportion of overseas-born public servants, led by the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Australia, Fiji, and Samoa. Other notable proportions have also come from the Philippines, China, and the United States.

The 2021 Public Service Census found that 71% of the public servants who participated were born in New Zealand. For those who were born elsewhere, 3.3% were recent migrants, who had been living in New Zealand for less than 5 years.

Born overseas(CSV, 2.7 MB)

Māori representation and iwi affiliation

Māori make up 16.5% of the Public Service workforce as of 30 June 2026. Data from the Public Service Census indicated that in 2025, Māori public servants were affiliated to over 160 different iwi, with many Māori having whakapapa to multiple iwi.

The following table compares Public Service workforce iwi grouping figures, with those for the New Zealand population for 2023. 

The table shows the representation of iwi in the Public Service is broadly similar to the wider population. The variation present may in part be explained by the regional distribution of the Public Service, with the largest proportion of the workforce (42.6%) located in the Wellington region. Other regions have 57.4% of the workforce, led by Auckland (21.3%), Canterbury (10.3%) and Waikato (6.9%).  

The table below shows that European staff continue to be over-represented in each of the top 3 tiers of Public Service management, when compared with either the Public Service workforce as a whole or the wider population.

Māori representation in Public Service senior management is broadly aligned with Māori representation in the total Public Service workforce and exceeds Māori representation in both the New Zealand working-age population and labour force.

While still below the proportion in the total Public Service workforce and the NZ working age population, the proportion of Pacific senior managers has doubled in the last ten years (from 2.6% in 2016 to 5.7% in 2026) and is now at its highest ever level.

Despite growth in the wider workforce, Asians continue to be under-represented in senior management, comprising only 3.7% of senior leaders in 2026. This is a slight decrease from last year (3.8%), although it follows 7 years of increases, from 2.2% in 2018. This under-representation is taking time to increase, as Asian staff are also under-represented at lower levels of management.

Note: The data for the following table is correct as at 30 June 2026.

Ethnic diversity summary(CSV, 44 KB)

As at 30 June 2026, the ethnicity of the 42 Public Service Leaders (tier 1) was 81.6% European, 15.8% Māori, 7.9% Pacific Peoples, and 7.9% Asian (these percentages sum to more than 100% because some individuals identify with more than one ethnicity). 

Public Service leadership