AbstractTo confirm the clinical impression that Melanesian Fijian and Fiji Indian children differ in their profiles of respiratory morbidity, national hospital admission statistics for respiratory diseases in children aged 5‐14 years were examined for 4 years between 1985 and 1989. The mean annual admission rate for asthma was three‐fold higher in Indians (1.68/1000) than Fijians (0.56/1000); rate ratio (Indian:Fijian) = 3.00, 95% confidence interval 2.54‐3.55. Conversely, the mean annual admission rate for pneumonia was three‐fold higher in Fijians (1.70/1000) than Indians (0.50/1000); rate ratio (Fijian:Indian) = 3.39 (2.85‐4.03). Admission rates for influenza, tuberculosis and bronchiectasis were also higher in Fijian children. Fijian and Indian children differ in hospital admission rates for respiratory diseases, possibly due to differences in incidence, prevalence or