The Hardship in Tuvalu Report analyses the monetary poverty (or hardship) and inequality in Tuvalu using data that have been collected from the Tuvalu 2022 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES).
CSD wishes to thank its partners, staff, field workers, and most importantly, the households that were selected for the HIES component of the LFC 2022-23 for their willingness to participate in the survey.
The table below shows the Key Monetary Measures of living standards in Tuvalu.
Annual Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (2022, current local currency)
AUD 11,484
Mean (median) annual adult equivalent consumption
AUD 4,491 (AUD 3,887)
Basic Needs Poverty Line (BNPL)
AUD 2,668
Basic Needs Poverty Rate (BNPR)
21.5%
Gini Index
0.294
The Hardship in Tuvalu 2022-23 Report is now available for download below;
The Tuvalu Central Statistics Division conducted it Long-Form Census (LFC), which combined both the population and Housing Census (PHC) together with the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) from 2022 to 2023.
CSD wishes to thank its partners, staff, field workers, and most importantly the people of Tuvalu for their willingness to participate in the census interviews.
Outer Islands
National
Funafuti
Outer Islands
10,643
10,643
6,613
4,030
Male
5,507
3,4447
2,060
Female
5,136
3,166
1,970
Resident Population by Region of Enumeration
10,632
6,602
4,030
Male
5,498
3,438
2,060
Female
5,134
3,164
1,970
Resident Population by Home Island
10,632
6,602
4,030
Nanumea
1,488
911
577
Nanumaga
1,167
734
433
Niutao
1,500
916
584
Nui
1,016
512
504
Vaitupu
1,844
930
914
Nukufetau
1,348
763
585
Funafuti
1,456
1,413
43
Nukulaelae
578
272
306
Niulakita
6
4
2
Outside Tuvalu
94
58
36
Not Stated
135
89
46
The Tuvalu 2022 Census on Population and Housing Report is now available for download below;
The Tuvalu Central Statistics Division (CSD) is currently undergoing an innovative experiment project funded by the World Bank and the Pacific Community (SPC) which is the first in the Pacific region called the Statistical Population Register (SPR)
The SPR project aims to link and utilize census data with administrative data from various data sources, including the Immigration Department, Health Department, and Marine Department. By leveraging these administrative data, the Tuvalu CSD intends to reduce or eliminate the need for traditional census population and housing survey. This approach will enable us to determine the overall Population of Tuvalu using administrative data that is already available.
As part of the SPR, the CSD is planning to conduct a National Population Count that will offer a snapshot of Tuvalu’s current population, that will validate and update the existing population count from the 2022 Census and integrate with administrative data to provide an updated statistic of Tuvalu’s population.
The National Population Count plans to recruit officers from each Kaupule office on a temporary basis, to train here on Funafuti as Trainers for the fieldwork, they will then train fieldworkers from their respective islands to conduct the enumeration of their islands on a specific week. During the fieldwork, the Trainers will then supervise the activities on the ground.
These are dates allocated for each activity;
National Population Count Events
Start
End
Application Dates (CLOSED)
17-02-2025
28-02-2025
Training of Trainers
14-04-2025
17-04-2025
Training of Enumerators
05-05-2025
07-05-2025
Reference Night
18-05-2025
Fieldwork
19-05-2025
24-05-2025
The number of fieldworkers needed from each island is detailed in the table below;
Islands
Fieldworkers
Nanumea
4
Nanumaga
4
Niutao
4
Nui
3
Vaitupu
8
Nukufetau
4
Funafuti
28
Nukulaelae
2
Note that these numbers exclude the number of Trainers that will also supervise the fieldwork.
The Central Statistics Division conducted the Long Form Census (LFC) in 2022 and completed the fieldwork in 2023. The LFC combined two stand-alone data collection activities: the Population and Housing Census (PHC) and the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. As the name implies, the Tuvalu HIES 2022-23 report presents statistics on income and expenditure. CSD wishes to thank its partners, staff, and in particular, the households that participated in the interviews.
Income
The total annual household income in Tuvalu is estimated to be approximately AUD 50 million (an average of AUD 27,526 and a median of AUD 22,176). 73% of household income is cash-based, while 18% is coming from rent, 6% from gifts, and 3% from the consumption of home production. Income is mainly sourced from employment-related activities, such as salaries and income from the sale of primary produce. Employment-related activities account for 71% of gross household income. The distribution of household income is not even and there’s a certain degree of inequality ― in terms of total household income ― among different population groups of Tuvalu. 36% of household income in Tuvalu is accounted for by the population from the lowest expenditure quintiles (40% of the population).
Expenditure
Total annual household expenditure in Tuvalu is estimated to be approximately AUD 53 million (an average of AUD 29,383 and a median of AUD 24,428). 87% of household expenditure is consumption expenditure, with the remaining 13% being classified as transfers. In terms of consumption source, 74% is cash-based (cash-purchased goods and services), 17% is rented (actual and imputed), 6% is gifts and 3% is own account production (home production for subsistence purposes). Consumption expenditure is mainly dedicated to food and non-alcoholic beverages, which represent 34% of the total consumption expenditure. Housing accounts for 26% of total household expenditure, and Restaurants and hotels account for another 7%. The lowest share of total household expenditure was on education and health which represented 0.2% and 0.02% respectively. The distribution of household expenditure is not even and there’s a degree of inequality ― in terms of total household expenditure ― among different population groups of Tuvalu. Around 53% of total household expenditure in Tuvalu is accounted for by 40% of the population.
Total arrivals for the first quarter of 2024 were 1,739, a 16 percent decrease from the total arrivals recorded for the fourth quarter of 2023. The month with the highest arrivals was January. The total number of visitors for the first quarter of 2024 was 853, an increase of 8 percent compared to the number of visitors in the fourth quarter of 2023. Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand make up 42 percent of the total visitors with Fiji being the highest at 19 percent. About 3 in every 10 visitors visited Tuvalu for a holiday and another 3 in every 10 visited Tuvalu for Government purposes.
Total departures for the fourth quarter of 2024 were 2,146, a 2 percent decrease from the total departures in the fourth quarter of 2023. The month with the highest departures was February. The total number of resident departures in the first quarter of 2024 was 1,214 which is an 8 percent decrease compared to the first quarter of 2023. About 4 in every 10 residents traveled overseas for family or social purposes. Almost 80 percent of residents travel for family/social, education, and government purposes. Note that about 5 percent of residents travel for medical purposes and 2 percent migrate.
The total number of births for the first quarter of 2024 was 46 which is a 7 percent increase compared to the number of births in the fourth quarter of 2023. Overall, the birth of male children is slightly higher than female children. About 119 males for every 100 births of female children in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 115 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The population estimated for the first quarter of 2024 was 9,853, a decrease of about 2.4 percent compared to the population estimated for 2023. It is worth noting from the section on migration that there is still a significant difference in the arrival and departure of residents. The base used for the estimates was the resident population count from the 2017 mini-census.
