Tongans

Tongans

Tongans gathered for a kava ceremony
Total population
c. 150,000-300,000
Regions with significant populations
Tonga	100,209
New Zealand	82,389
United States	78,871
Australia	43,465
Canada	120
Languages
Tongan, English
Religion
Methodism, Catholicism, Mormonism
Related ethnic groups
Other Polynesians, Tongan New Zealanders, Tongan Americans, Tongan Australians

Tongans or Tongan people are a Polynesian ethnic group native to Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

Tongans represent more than 98% of the inhabitants of Tonga. The rest are European (the majority are British), mixed European, and other Pacific Islanders. There also are several hundred Chinese. Almost two-thirds of the population live on its main island, Tongatapu. Although an increasing number of Tongans have moved into the only urban and commercial center, Nukuʻalofa, where European and Indigenous cultural and living patterns have blended, village life and kinship ties continue to be important throughout the country. Everyday life is heavily influenced by Polynesian traditions and especially by the Christian faith; for example, all commerce and entertainment activities cease from midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday, and the constitution declares the Sabbath to be sacred, forever. Other important Christian denominations include Methodists (Free Wesleyan) and Catholics, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[1]