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OHCHR 
Language Profile
TOTAL SPEAKERS
Vagahau Niue/Niue language is spoken by about 8,000 people, the majority of whom live in New Zealand. Most inhabitants of Niue are bilingual, speaking Vagahau Niue and English.
USAGE BY COUNTRY (OFFICIAL LANGUAGE)
In 1991, Vagahau Niue was spoken by 1600 people on the island of Niue (97.4% of the inhabitants); as well as by speakers in New Zealand, Cook Islands and Tonga - a total of around 8,000 speakers. There are more speakers of Vagahau Niue outside the island than on the island.
BACKGROUND
Vagahau Niue is a Polynesian language of the Pacific Region, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian languages. It is most closely related to Tongan and slightly more distantly to other Polynesian languages such as Māori, Sāmoan, and Hawai'ian. Together, Tongan and Niue form the Tongic subgroup of the Polynesian languages. Vagahau Niue also has a number of influences from Gagana Samoa and Eastern Polynesian.
Niue consists of two main dialects, the older Motu dialect from the north of the island and the Tafiti dialect of the south. The differences between the dialects are mainly in vocabulary or in the forms of some common/shared words.