Tuvaluans

The first thing about Tuvalu you should know is the Tuvaluans. Widely it is accepted by many people that the first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians. Today, the Tuvalu population is 11,818, and the populace of the country is relatively homogenous. 96% of the people identified as ethnically Tuvaluan. The state has two official languages, the Tuvalu language, and English. English is the second most spoken language because it was a former colony of the Great Britain Empire. In daily use, people prefer the Tuvalu language, and all government documents are in Tuvaluan. There are more than 13,000 speakers of this language worldwide. There is another dialect that is used mostly by the Nui people. This is Gilbertese, which is very similar to the Tuvalu language.

Although most people live on the outer islands in extended family households clustered into villages, about one-third of the population lives in Funafuti, the center of government and commerce. Population growth has been slowed by family planning; life expectancy at birth is about 60 years. About 10 percent of the population lives overseas, either pursuing education, working in the Nauru phosphate industry, or working on merchant ships.