People in New Zealand who may have difficulty communicating using their usual language
By level of difficulty, 2018 & 2023 Census, % of people aged 5+ where information available
The following information applies to all values in the table.
Subject population: Census usually resident population, Age group: 5-*, Measure: Difficulty communicating, Unit: Percentage of total stated
Use an alternative source for this data if possible, or be very careful using the data. This data was rated poor quality by Stats NZ. Look for other datasets to use instead, or to help check your assumptions if possible. Otherwise, read the warnings and response rate metadata below before using.
Stats NZ gives data an overall rating based on sources and coverage, consistency, and data quality.
Why am I seeing this?
This data is from the Census. The past two censuses had relatively low response rates, particularly for some areas of New Zealand and groups of people.
Where information was missing or unreadable, Stats NZ attempted to use data from a range of places such as previous censuses or administrative data that is collected by other government agencies. If that isn't available, Stats NZ use statistical models to predict what the missing data would have been. This is called imputation.
Things to be aware of
The questions were designed to allow comparisons to be made between average outcomes for disabled and non-disabled populations. They were not designed to identify the disabled population. The official count is taken from the Disability Survey.
The questions ask whether people have difficulty performing any of six basic universal activities (walking, seeing, hearing, cognition, self-care, and communication).
People were asked to state the level of activity limitation on a scale from ‘No difficulty’ to ‘Cannot do at all’.
These six questions on activity limitations are known as the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS). In designing this question set, the Washington Group intended that a disability indicator be derived from the six responses combined.
They do not measure all domains of functioning with which people may have difficulty, but rather those domains that are likely to identify a majority of people at risk of participation restrictions.
A person is regarded as disabled if they have 'a lot of difficulty' or 'cannot do at all' one or more of the six activities.
Response rates and final data sources
The response rate from 2023 Census forms was 85.0%. There was no information for 15.0% of people. No alternative data source or imputation was used to replace missing responses or responses that could not be classified for activity limitations.
Māori, Pacific peoples, those living in rural areas and unemployed have higher proportions of missing data than the overall subject population. These populations also tend to have higher disability rates.
Definitions
Census usually resident population count of New Zealand: a count of all people who usually live in and were present in New Zealand on census night. It excludes overseas visitors and New Zealand residents who are temporarily overseas.
Census night population count of New Zealand: a count of all people present in New Zealand on census night. This includes visitors from overseas who are counted on census night but excludes residents who are temporarily overseas on census night.
Dwelling: A dwelling is any building or structure that is used, or intended to be used, for human habitation. There can be more than one dwelling within a building. For example, each apartment in an apartment building is a dwelling.
Household: either one person who usually resides alone, or two or more people who usually reside together and share facilities in a private dwelling. Included are people who were absent on census night but usually live in a particular dwelling and are members of that household, as long as they were reported as being absent on the dwelling form or the household set-up form.
Response 'stated': Members of the subject population (eg. people or dwelling) for which the data was obtained through a census form, administrative sources, or imputed.
Data calculation/treatment
This data has been randomly rounded to protect confidentiality. Figure.NZ calculated percentages based on the 'Total stated' values for each variable. Individual percentages may not sum to 100% and values for the same data may vary in different tables.
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, Motiti Island, White Island, Moutohora Island, Bounty Islands, Snares Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island.
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 2023 Census, held on Tuesday 7 March, was the 35th New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings. The first official census was run in 1851, and since 1877 there has been a census every five years, with only four exceptions.
Purpose of collection
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 with making 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.