2018 New Zealand census
The 2018 New Zealand census was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018.[2] The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census.[1]
Thirty-fourth census of New Zealand
Results from the 2018 census were released to the public on 23 September 2019, from the Statistics New Zealand website.[3] The most recent New Zealand census was held in March 2023.[4]
History[edit]
Background[edit]
The Census Act 1877 required censuses to be held every fifth year and is well embedded in legislation and government systems.[5] Since 1881, censuses have been held every five years, with the exceptions of those in 1931 and 1941 and the one in 2011 which was cancelled due to the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, which displaced many Canterbury residents from their homes only a few weeks before census day. It was rescheduled for March 2013, so the 2013 census is the previous census completed before this one.[6]
Issues and controversies[edit]
In July 2018, it was estimated that the 2018 census had a "full or partial" response for 90 percent of individuals, down from 94.5 percent in the 2013 census and the planned release date for census information was changed from October of the same year to March 2019.[7] This drop, which already amounted to the lowest census response rate for fifty years, was blamed on a 'digital-first' policy for the census.[8][9] An independent review was initiated by the Government Statistician in October 2019, and in November Statistics NZ announced that release of census data would be pushed back to at least April 2019 due to "the complex nature of the task".[10]
In early April 2019, the Government Statistician, Liz MacPherson was facing possible charges of contempt of parliament.[11] She had twice refused, on 13 February and in early April, to disclose the number of partially and fully completed responses.[12] On 9 April, she reported that one in seven New Zealanders, 700,000 people, failed to complete the census.[11]
In July 2019 the independent inquiry returned its findings to the Government Statistician, the Minister of Statistics and the State Services Commissioner, reporting that too little attention had been paid to the non-digital aspects of the census, but also blamed operational complexity and flaws in management. Due to a decision to conduct the census primarily online, the census attracted only an 83% response rate, even lower than the 90% earlier reported, and well short of the 94% census percent target and a nine percent drop from the previous 2013 New Zealand census.[13]
On 13 August 2019 the report was released to the public and Liz MacPherson offered her resignation, taking ultimate responsibility for the results, stating "I'm sorry, the buck stops with me."[14][15] State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes agreed with her assessment, and asked MacPherson to remain in her role until Christmas of 2019, noting that "she is the best person to finish the remediation work."[16][17]
Projections[edit]
Statistics New Zealand annually conducts population projections for New Zealand as a whole, which are based on data from the previous census (in this case, the 2013 census) and calculated using a cohort-component method. Population projections also take into consideration births, deaths, and net migration.
In 2016, New Zealand's population at the time of the 2018 census was projected to be between 4,807,000 and 4,944,000.[19]