A dwelling is any building or structure – or its parts – that is used, or intended to be used, for human habitation. Dwellings can be permanent or temporary and include structures such as houses, motels, hotels, prisons, motor homes, huts, and tents. There can be more than one dwelling within a building; for example, in an apartment building each separate apartment or unit is considered a dwelling.
An occupied private dwelling accommodates a person or group of people and is not generally available for public use. The main purpose of a private dwelling is as a place of habitation; it is usually built (or converted) to function as a self-contained housing unit.
Data calculation/treatment
This data has been randomly rounded to protect confidentiality. Individual figures may not sum to totals and values for the same data may vary in different tables.
Please note the meshblock-level data has been removed by Figure.NZ to reduce file size.
This time series is irregular. Because the 2011 Census was cancelled after the Canterbury earthquake on 22 February 2011 the gap between this census and the last one is seven years. The change in the data between 2006 and 2013 may be greater than in the usual five-year gap between censuses. Be careful when comparing trends.
At URL provided, select 'Total New Zealand', under the '2013 Census meshblock dataset – CSV files' heading.
Extract the 2013-mb-dataset-Total-New-Zealand-Dwelling.csv from the zip file.
From the dataset Census: Meshblock Dataset - Dwelling (absolute values) 2013, this data was extracted:
Sheet: Census2013-Dwelling
Range: D2277:DY2345
Provided: 8,694 data points
Dataset originally released on:
April 02, 2014
Purpose of collection
The census is the official count of how many people and dwellings there are in New Zealand. It takes a snapshot of the people in New Zealand and the places where we live.
Population information from the census helps determine how billions of dollars of government funding is spent in the community. It is used to make decisions about services such as hospitals, schools, roads, public transport, recreational facilities. Census information is used to decide electorate boundaries. It is also used by councils, community groups and businesses to plan for the future.