Tongans are beginning to confront the problem of how to preserve their cultural identity and traditions in the wake of the increasing impact of Western technology and culture. Migration and the gradual monetization of the economy have led to the breakdown of the traditional extended family. Some of the poor, supported by the extended family, are now being left without visible means of support.

Educational opportunities for young commoners have advanced, and their increasing political awareness has stimulated some dissent against the nobility system. In addition, the rapidly increasing population is already too great to provide the constitutionally mandated 8.25-acre api for each male at age 16. In mid-1982, population density was 134 persons per square kilometer. Because of these factors, there is considerable pressure to move to the kingdom's only urban center of migration.

The King of Tonga announced in late 2004 that he would henceforth include people's representatives in the 12-member appointed cabinet. Following the election in March 2005, the Prime Minister appointed two of nine recently elected people's representatives and two nobles' representatives as Cabinet Ministers. In April 2005, Tonga's first official political party, the People's Democratic Party, was formed and its official candidate was elected to Parliament in special May by-elections, held to fill the two people's representational seats vacated by the Cabinet Minister appointments. The by-election also resulted in the election of the first woman to sit in the Tongan Parliament in 24 years. Out of the nine current people's representatives, seven are members of Tongan democratic movements and two are independent.