This article is about Pacific Islanders. For the rugby union team see Pacific Islanders rugby union team

A Pacific Islander or Pacific Person (plural: Pacific People, also called Oceanic[s]), is a term used in several places, such as New Zealand and the United States, to describe the inhabitants of Oceania.

In New Zealand, the term is applied to a person who has emigrated from one of the smaller islands of the Pacific to New Zealand in modern times, or one of their descendants born in New Zealand. While the majority of these people originate from Polynesia, others come from Micronesia and Melanesia. The term is used to distinguish these people from the indigenous New Zealand Māori (who are also Polynesian but arrived in New Zealand many centuries earlier), and from other ethnic groups. A major reason for making the ethnic distinction is that the Pacific People collectively suffer from socio-economic disadvantages and require culturally targeted social and health assistance.

In Australia, "Pacific Islander" means a person from islands in the Pacific, as in New Zealand.

In the United States, "Pacific Islander" refers to people from the same locations. In U.S. usage it is most commonly seen as "Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders".

It excludes people who trace to non-Pacific Island origins (e.g., descendants of Chinese or European colonists) that may now reside on the islands. It would also exclude New Zealanders, except the Māori who are Polynesian, nor would it include Australians or indigenous Australians (except perhaps Torres Strait Islanders, who are generally not included under the designation "Australian Aborigines").

For instance, U.S. Census category was "Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders" (NHPI). NHPI refers to people having origins from any of the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, the Marianas, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race or races as "Native Hawaiian", "Guamanian or Chamoru", "Samoan", or "Other Pacific Islander", or wrote in entries such as Tahitian, Mariana Islander, or Chuukese.

Inhabitants of the Taiwanese, Okinawan, Filipino, and Indonesian islands, although technically bordering the Pacific Ocean, are not considered Pacific Islanders because such islands are not located in any of the three regions of Oceania, and are therefore classified as "Asian" on the U.S. Census. Despite this, a growing number of Filipino-Americans have denied the classification of being "Asian", instead claiming to be "Pacific Islanders" which has prompted allegations of cultural denial from Filipinos who identify themselves as being of Asian descent, as the Filipino government has stated since its foundation that the Philippines is a part of Asia. It should be noted however that both groups are closely related ethnically and are grouped together under the Austronesian subdivision of langages and ethnicities. The definitions of the three Oceanic territories in this aspect are seen as relatively recent artificial boundaries in relation to anthropological and linguistic evidence between the Malayo-Polynesian speaking peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Austronesian speaking peoples of Oceania.

• "Oceanic"
• South Sea Islanders, or Kanakas, the descendants of Pacific Islanders blackbirded to Australia in the period 1860 to 1906
• Closing the gaps
• History of Oceania
• History of the Pacific Islands
• Pacific Islander American
• Asian Pacific American
• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
• Austronesian people

• Dictionary.com definition
• Encarta definition