Niue

“A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
― John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife

Niue

Niue is a small island territory in the South Pacific with a population of about 1,600 in 2018. Such estimates place Niue as the world’s second smallest country in terms of the population behind Vatican City. Since the 1960s’ the country has been experiencing an exodus. The cause of this exodus is twofold; First and foremost, most residents of Niue are entitled to New Zealand Citizenship as the island was annexed by New Zealand in 1901. As New Zealand citizens they retain the right to live and work in New Zealand which offers a strong economic incentive for Niueans to emigrate as the average GDP per capita in Niue is $5,800 USD while New Zealand maintains one of the highest GDP per capita figures in the region at $39,426 USD. Second the mechanism that prompted the exodus occurred in 1970 following the development of Niue International Airport which made the journey to New Zealand less onerous, it reduced travel time from a few days by boat to merely a three-and-a-half-hour flight. Within a generation, the Niuean population shifted from over 5,000 in the 1960s to where it stands today at under 2,000 residents. The powerful passport and economic opportunities available to Niueans abroad has created a significant diaspora with large populations in Auckland, Wellington, and Sydney. There are more Niueans who live abroad in the greater Pacific region than those who reside on the island.

The impacts on the islands have been stark – an island which once had six operable primary schools now only has one. The brain drain from Niue has negative externalities for economic development including a smaller workforce, and less tax revenues. The decrease in the tax base is especially problematic as the island is often at the mercy of natural disasters such as Cyclone Heta in 2004 which destroyed much of the island’s capital Alofi.  Niue has attempted different strategies to retain its population by addressing the countries national debt, developing new economic opportunities on the island, and expanding welfare programs for the island’s residents. Niue has paid off the country’s national debt of approximately $4 million USD in its entirety. Niue has chosen to follow a unique development path of rejecting loans and foregoing deficit spending for development. The new strategy in place seeks to use the revenues from the country’s natural resources namely tourism, and banana and water exports to finance future growth. The island has bolstered welfare programs to encourage Niueans to remain. Such reforms include the government shortening the work week to only four days, increasing the country’s pensions by 10% in 2016, providing state-funded wireless-internet to all inhabitants, and granting parents of new babies born on the island a onetime payment of $1,437 USD.  Niue currently maintains racial land alienation laws where only ethnic Niueans have the right to own real and private property. The government is preventing absentee landowners who have left their properties vacant for over 20 years from retaining the title to their ancestral land. The island has also experimented with the development of niche private enterprises notably in the 1990s when the country attempted to become an offshore banking hub. This venture later failed following allegations of money laundering and the subsequent threat of sanctions by the OECD in 2002.

What has prompted a return of Niuean nationals to the island is the burgeoning tourism industry and the islands evolving political status. The tourism industry has been growing at an astonishing rate: in 2009 the island only attracted around 3,000 visitors and in 2017 it attracted approximately 9,805 visitors. Some Niueans with the unique privilege to own land in Niue have returned to the islands as entrepreneurs to capture a piece of the profits from the tourism phenomena. The growth of the tourism industry and the corresponding growth of private sector jobs may prevent some Niueans from leaving. Furthermore, the changing political atmosphere of Niue is leading toward a long-term strategy to mitigate against brain drain. This is occurring as Niue and New Zealand are altering their relationship as Niue becomes less dependent on New Zealand. New Zealand amended its nationality law decreeing that any Niueans born on the island before December 31, 2005, were entitled to New Zealand citizenship, while those born on the island after January 1, 2006, are required to undergo the immigration and naturalization process required of other foreign nationals. New Zealand has also been in the process of reducing its trust fund payments to Niue as the island becomes more economically independent with the growth of the tourism industry. Niue is also attempting to secure greater international legitimacy by pursuing full member-state recognition in the United Nations. Such a label would prove a global symbol of its independence from New Zealand. The new programs from Niue and the reforms in citizenship by New Zealand may slow the exodus but will likely not stop it so long as more enticing economic opportunities exist throughout greater Oceania.