A new report shows the wellbeing of Pacific peoples in New Zealand has been improving steadily since the mid-1990s.
The Pacific Islands Affairs Minister, Luamanavao Winnie Laban, says the 2008 Social Report indicates that Pacific peoples are sometimes making social improvements more quickly than the total New Zealand population.
Luamanavao says more young people are gaining tertiary qualifications, earnings are up and smoking levels are down.
She says participation in early childhood education, employment rates and housing affordability have all improved faster than the outcomes of the wider New Zealand population.
But Luamanavao says there has not been progress on obesity rates, potentially hazardous drinking and participation in physical activity, which she says is also the case for the New Zealand population as a whole.
