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Census - Usually resident census population by ethnic group, religious affiliation and region 2018

Stats NZ

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.

Things to be aware of

Religious affiliation data has only minor data quality issues. The quality of coding and responses within classification categories is high. Any impact of other data sources used is minor. Any issues with the variable appear in a low number of cases (typically in the low hundreds). The implementation of as-you-type functionality for the online forms helped ensure valid responses were provided. A person may vary their reporting of their ethnicity, including the number of ethnicities they identify with, according to the context in which they are asked. This is a consideration when comparing the 2018 Census results with other sources. In addition, the 'as-you-type' online functionality of this census allowed for more detailed responses than in other data collections, including previous censuses.

Read the response rates and final data sources section for more information.

Subject matter

Religious affiliation is the self-identified association of a person with a religion, denomination, or sub-denominational religious group. A religion is a set of beliefs and practices that usually involves acknowledging a higher power, and guides people's conduct and morals. Religious affiliation can have multiple responses as people may have affiliation with more than one religion or denomination. A denomination is a subgroup of a religion. For example, Roman Catholic is a Christian denomination. Ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups a person identifies with or has a sense of belonging to. It is a measure of cultural affiliation (in contrast to race, ancestry, nationality, or citizenship). This demographic attribute is self-perceived, and a person can belong to more than one ethnic group.

Response rates and final data sources

Religious affiliation: The response rate for this question from 2018 Census forms was 82.9%. A further 8.2% of the data come from responses to the 2013 Census. The remaining 8.8% of the data was derived from statistical imputation. Ethnic group: The response rate from 2018 Census forms was 84.4%. In addition, 8.2% of responses were sourced from forms submitted during the 2013 Census. 6.2% were sourced from administrative data such as the births register, education enrolments, Ministry of Health, Corrections, and Ministry of Defence datasets. 1.2% of responses were imputed, while less than 0.1% were missing. Some responses that could not be classified, or did not provide the type of information asked for, remain in the data where Stats NZ was unable to find information from another source. These are included in the response rate from 2018 Census forms. Region: The response rate from 2018 Census forms was 88.8%. The remaining 11.2% of responses were sourced from administrative records. Admin enumerated records were added to the census file to count people who were missed. Data from the range of sources available in the IDI was used.

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.

For more information

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.

Changes to data collection/processing

The 2018 Census was a modernised census based on models used in 2016 by the Canadian and Australian statistical agencies and then applied in the New Zealand context. Stats NZ collaborated with census experts from both countries when designing the model.

Under the new model, how Stats NZ enabled/collected from the respondents changed from predominately field-based activities to 80 percent mail-out with a reduced field presence and increased communications, marketing and engagement. The way respondents completed their forms also changed, with a greater focus on online completion over paper. The majority of the population was encouraged to complete the census online using an internet access code mailed to their households before census night. The new collection model therefore relied on the public to self-respond, rather than wait for a visit from field staff. Field follow-up activities were also planned.

The main areas of change were:
- phasing the model (prepare, enable, remind and visit)
- strategies used across the different phases
- mailing out “call to action” letters with an internet access code and instructions on how to order paper forms, if required, as the first interaction with census
- reducing the number of field staff, with a new structure and roles
- outsourcing the recruitment functions for field staff
- introducing new field technology
- creating a new address frame (a list of all dwellings in New Zealand)
- an integrated communications campaign including community engagement
- a new approach to processing the census data.

Data provided by

Stats NZ

Dataset name

Census: Ethnic group (detailed total response - level 3) and religious affiliation (total responses) by sex, for the census usually resident population count 2018

Webpage:

https://explore.data.stats.govt.nz/vis?tm=Ethnic%20group%20%28detailed%20total%20response%20level%203%29%20religious%20affiliation&pg=0&snb=1&df[ds]=ds-nsiws-disseminate&df[id]=CEN18_ECI_012&df[ag]=STATSNZ&df[vs]=1.0&dq=9999%2B999999%2BDHB9999.9999.999.9.&to[TIME]=false&ly[rw]=AREA_CEN18_ECI_012&ly[cl]=YEAR_CEN18_ECI_012

How to find the data

At the URL provided, customise the selection by choosing '2018' under 'Year', 'Total' under 'Sex'. Variables under "New Zealand by District Health Board" were not selected. All remaining variables were selected to create this dataset.

Import & extraction details

File as imported: Census: Ethnic group (detailed total response - level 3) and religious affiliation (total responses) by sex, for the census usually resident population count 2018

From the dataset Census: Ethnic group (detailed total response - level 3) and religious affiliation (total responses) by sex, for the census usually resident population count 2018, this data was extracted:

  • Sheet: NZ.Stat export
  • Range: D8:CL558
  • Provided: 42,858 data points

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 2018 Census, held on Tuesday 6 March, was the 34th 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.