Introduction to the New Zealand Census
The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is the official count of how many people and dwellings there are in New Zealand. It provides a snapshot of our society at a point in time and helps to tell the story of its social and economic change. The first official census was run in 1851, and since 1877 there has been a census every five years, with only four exceptions.
Why hold a census?
Census information is used by government agencies, local authorities, businesses, community organisations, and the public for developing and implementing new policies, research, planning, and decision-making. It helps us make decisions about how to best use public funding, especially in areas of health, education, housing, and transport.
The census is also the primary source of information used for deciding the number of general and Māori electorates, along with data from the corresponding Māori Electoral Option.
The census in New Zealand is undertaken under the authority of the Data and Statistics Act 2022.
Who is counted?
The census aims to count everyone in New Zealand on census night. This includes:
- people on New Zealand soil
- people on a vessel in New Zealand waters
- people on a passage between New Zealand ports
- overseas residents in New Zealand
- overseas visitors in New Zealand
- people in diplomatic residences including housekeeping staff, uniformed military personnel, and members of diplomats' families
- overseas military personnel and their families located in New Zealand on census night (including people on our territorial waters).
New Zealand residents who are not in the country on census night are not included in the census.
Geographically, the census includes the North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, and the Chatham Islands, plus largely uninhabited islands including the Kermadec Islands, Three Kings Islands, Mayor Island, Mōtītī Island, White Island, Moutohorā Island, Bounty Islands, Snares Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island.
The census cycle
Developing and undertaking the census is a continuous cycle of work in five phases.
Prepare: deciding what information will be gathered and preparing for the census, including developing census forms and preparing field staff.
Collect: collecting the information from respondents, including field staff visiting households where necessary.
Process: assessing the quality of the information collected and creating a dataset.
Disseminate: developing the different products and services needed by the range of organisations that use census information, then publishing and distributing the range of products and services developed.
Census post-enumeration survey: independent assessment and review of how the census was conducted and the quality of the information received.
Ongoing development
We are constantly adapting and developing the census throughout the five-year census cycle to improve its cost effectiveness and the quality of the information collected, and make it as easy as possible for people to take part.
- Testing: in preparing for a census we run tests to check how well our systems and processes are working.
- Quality assurance: to ensure what we produce from the census is fit for use, we assess the quality of the census we have collected and give it a quality rating on a five-point scale from very high to very poor.
- Security, privacy, and confidentiality: to ensure the personal information we collect from people is safe, we have a comprehensive range of measures in place.
Security, privacy and confidentiality of census data has more information on these measures.
Page updated 28 September 2022.
