The 1988 population census found a total of about 190,000 people in French Polynesia. However the criteria used for defining the racial groups can only approximate a breakdown of: 70% Polynesian, 12% European, 10% Polynesian/European, five per-cent Chinese, and three percent Polynesian/Chinese. All are French citizens.
The 1988 population figures for the five administrative subdivisions are Windward Islands 140,341, Leeward Islands 22,232, Austral Islands 6,500, Tuamotu/Gambier Islands 12,374, Marquesas Islands 7,358. About 70% of the total population lives on Tahiti.
The indigenous people of Tahiti-Polynesia are the maohi or Eastern Polynesians (as opposed to the Western Polynesians in Samoa and Tonga).
Racial intermariages are commun and many Tahitians can claim French, Chinese, American and Polynesian ancestry. This accounts for the physical beauty of the inhabitants and the total abscence of racial prejudice, either from the Europeans or the Tahitians.
Education
Formal education is mandatory in Tahiti for every child to the age of 14. Primary education begins at age five, and continues to the age of 12, when children begin secondary education.
There are several technical and vocational schools in Tahiti, as well as a large adult education program. Vocational training includes hotel, restaurant, nursing and teaching programs.
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