Percentage changes
Percentage movements are, in a number of cases, calculated using data of greater precision than published. This could result in slight variations.
Rounding procedures
Figures may be rounded to the nearest thousand or some other convenient unit. This may result in a total disagreeing slightly with the total of the individual items. All counts in this report have been randomly rounded to base 3 to protect the confidentiality of respondents. For this reason not all figures will sum to stated totals.
Changes of base
Where consecutive figures have been compiled on different bases and are not strictly comparable, a footnote is added indicating the nature of the difference.
Time periods
Results for each indicator span the most recent 20-year period, although in many cases the period analysed is shorter. In some cases information has only been available for two discrete points in time (usually two distinct years), rather than a time series, and in yet others only for a single point in time (usually one year). In some other cases the time period is longer than 20 years because either underlying data cycles have been identified or longer time series are required to understand long-term changes.
Measuring New Zealand’s Progress Using a Sustainable Development Approach: 2008 presents an overarching view of New Zealand’s environmental, economic, and social progress and whether that progress was consistent with sustainable development. The selected indicators provide information about whether we are meeting our current needs, how our resources are distributed, how efficiently we are using our resources, and what impact our actions may have on the stock of resources that will be available in the future.
Internationally, the measurement of sustainable development is a well-established, although developing, area of official statistics. In 2002, Statistics New Zealand produced an experimental set of sustainable development indicators in Monitoring Progress Towards a Sustainable New Zealand. In 2006, Statistics NZ was invited to participate in an international working group convened by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Economic Committee for Europe (UNECE), and Eurostat (part of the European Commission) to work on statistics for sustainable development. The aim was to ensure greater consistency in measurement and international comparability, with the ‘capital approach’ as its starting point.