Statistics New Zealand says about four in every 10 Pacific people live in crowded homes in New Zealand, with the highest rates among Tuvalauan and Tongan households.
Overall, about one in 10 New Zealanders lived in crowded homes in 2013, Stats NZ said, and that rate has changed little since the early 2000s.
Senior Analyst Dr Rosemary Goodyear said "crowding, especially severe crowding, is linked with poorer health, higher rates of infectious diseases, and poorer educational outcomes for children.
"We found that people living in crowded households are less satisfied with life, and more likely to be short of cash for everyday needs or a visit to the doctor," Dr Goodyear said.
About 20 per cent of those with Maori ethnicity lived in crowded homes, while 18 per cent of those with Asian ethnicity did.
Less than five per cent of those of NZ European ethnicity lived in a crowded home.
According to Stats NZ, a family in need of more bedrooms lives in a crowded home - a home is "severely crowded" if two or more bedrooms are needed.
Therefore, couples with two children aged under 18 would need two bedrooms in their home to not be crowded.
If their two-bedroom home had seven people living there, that would rate as "severely crowded", as it would need two more bedrooms.
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