Household composition in New Zealand

2023 Census, % of households where information available

The following information applies to all values in the table. Census Year: 2023, Subject population: Households in occupied private dwellings, Region: Total New Zealand, Number of bedrooms: Total stated, Unit: Percentage
Household composition by number of usual residents	% of households where information available
Couple only and other person(s)	2.71%
Couple only with two usual residents	25.2%
Couple with child(ren)	26.25%
Couple with child(ren) and other person(s)	2.82%
One parent with child(ren)	8.23%
One parent with child(ren) and other person(s)	2.09%
One-person household with one usual resident	22.65%
Other multi-person household	5.55%
Three-or-more family household (with or without other people)	0.25%
Two-family household (with or without other people)	3.62%

Data Quality

Using this data

You can use this data confidently. Stats NZ rated it as high quality. For more information, read about response rates below.

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.

Subject matter

‘Household composition’ classifies households according to the relationships between usually resident people. A household is either one person who usually resides alone, or two or more people who usually reside together and share facilities in a home. 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 rates and final data sources

For household composition, 92.3% of household information was derived from census forms. 3.1% of households were enumerated from admin data, while 1.2% were a mix of both census and admin sources. 3.5% of households had no information. For number of bedrooms, 91.1% of the information was derived from census forms. 6.6% of homes were from previous censuses, while 2.3% were from admin and imputation.

Definitions

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.

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.

For more information

https://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/item/nz.govt.stats/7c1335e0-c2c7-4217-ac48-bfc7a68aea48
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2023-census-population-dwelling-and-housing-highlights/

Inclusions

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.

Data provided by

Stats NZ

Dataset name

Census: Household composition by number of usual residents and number of bedrooms for households in occupied private dwellings, 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses

Webpage:

https://explore.data.stats.govt.nz/vis?fs%5B0%5D=2023%20Census%2C0%7CHousing%23CAT_HOUSING%23&pg=0&fc=2023%20Census&bp=true&snb=36&df%5Bds%5D=ds-nsiws-disseminate&df%5Bid%5D=CEN23_FHH_038&df%5Bag%5D=STATSNZ&df%5Bvs%5D=1.0

Import & extraction details

File as imported: Census: Household composition by number of usual residents and number of bedrooms for households in occupied private dwellings, 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses

From the dataset Census: Household composition by number of usual residents and number of bedrooms for households in occupied private dwellings, 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses, this data was extracted:

Sheet: Region
Range: N2:R60751
Provided: 118,584 data points

This data forms the table Census - Household composition by number of usual residents by number of bedrooms and region 2013, 2018, 2023.

Dataset originally released on:

December 03, 2024

About this dataset

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 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.