Egyptian New Zealanders

Egyptian New Zealanders

Total population
1,110 (2013) Egyptian British

Egyptian New Zealanders are New Zealand citizens and New Zealand permanent residents of Egyptian descent. According to the New Zealand 2013 Census, 1,110 New Zealand citizens and permanent residents declared that they were of Egyptian descent.^{[1][dead link]}

The majority of Egyptian New Zealanders are

majority, although the indigenous Christian Church of Egypt has retained a sizeable minority throughout its history, up until today. Christians comprise much of the Egyptian diaspora, both in New Zealand and elsewhere.

Some New Zealand citizens and residents declared membership of the

. Most Egyptian Christians, however, may simply have declared themselves "Christian" without specifying the Coptic denomination, while other Egyptian Christians may belong to various other denominations, either born into or converted.

Emigration

Emigration from Egypt was significant in the late 1940s and 1950s, disproportionately so for non-Muslim religious minorities escaping the growing Arab nationalist movement in Egypt which saw the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy and the subsequent Suez Crisis.^[2]

In total numbers, Egyptian Christians were the largest contingent of emigrants to leave Egypt for other countries, including to New Zealand. Christians were the second largest in terms of proportion to their original community size in Egypt.

See also

• Egyptian Australians
• Arab New Zealanders
• Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand
• Egypt–New Zealand relations

References

External links

• Coptic Orthodox Electronic Publishing
• Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Melbourne
• Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Auckland New Zealand