Background

The Census Act 1877 required censuses to be held every fifth year and is well embedded in legislation and government systems.^[5] Since 1881, censuses have been held every five years, with the exceptions of those in 1931 and 1941 and the one in 2011 which was cancelled due to the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, which displaced many Canterbury residents from their homes only a few weeks before census day. It was rescheduled for March 2013, so the 2013 census is the previous census completed before this one.^[6]

Issues and controversies

In July 2018, it was estimated that the 2018 census had a "full or partial" response for 90 percent of individuals, down from 94.5 percent in the 2013 census and the planned release date for census information was changed from October of the same year to March 2019.^[7] This drop, which already amounted to the lowest census response rate for fifty years, was blamed on a 'digital-first' policy for the census.^[8][9] An independent review was initiated by the Government Statistician in October 2019, and in November Statistics NZ announced that release of census data would be pushed back to at least April 2019 due to "the complex nature of the task".^[10]

In early April 2019, the Government Statistician, Liz MacPherson was facing possible charges of contempt of parliament.^[11] She had twice refused, on 13 February and in early April, to disclose the number of partially and fully completed responses.^[12] On 9 April, she reported that one in seven New Zealanders, 700,000 people, failed to complete the census.^[11]

In July 2019 the independent inquiry returned its findings to the Government Statistician, the Minister of Statistics and the State Services Commissioner, reporting that too little attention had been paid to the non-digital aspects of the census, but also blamed operational complexity and flaws in management. Due to a decision to conduct the census primarily online, the census attracted only an 83% response rate, even lower than the 90% earlier reported, and well short of the 94% census percent target and a nine percent drop from the previous 2013 New Zealand census.^[13]

On 13 August 2019 the report was released to the public and Liz MacPherson offered her resignation, taking ultimate responsibility for the results, stating "I'm sorry, the buck stops with me."^[14][15] State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes agreed with her assessment, and asked MacPherson to remain in her role until Christmas of 2019, noting that "she is the best person to finish the remediation work."^[16][17]

Population and dwellings

Population counts for regions of New Zealand.^[24] All figures are for the census usually-resident population count.

More information Region, Population ...

Region	Population		Change
	2013 census	2018 census	Change	pp
Northland	151,689	179,076	27,387	18.05
Auckland	1,415,550	1,571,718	156,168	11.03
Waikato	403,638	458,202	54,564	13.52
Bay of Plenty	267,744	308,499	40,755	15.22
Gisborne	43,656	47,517	3,861	8.84
Hawke's Bay	151,179	166,368	15,189	10.05
Taranaki	109,608	117,561	7,953	7.26
Manawatū-Whanganui	222,672	238,797	16,125	7.24
Wellington	471,315	506,814	35,499	7.53
North Island	3,237,048	3,594,552	357,504	11.0
Tasman	47,154	52,389	5,235	11.10
Nelson	46,437	50,880	4,443	9.57
Marlborough	43,416	47,340	4,014	9.25
West Coast	32,148	31,575	573	1.78
Canterbury	539,436	599,694	60,258	11.17
Otago	202,467	225,186	22,719	11.22
Southland	93,342	97,467	4,125	4.42
South Island	1,004,397	1,104,537	100,140	9.97
Area outside region	600	669	69	11.50
New Zealand	4,242,048	4,699,755	457,707	10.79

Close

• Resident population count was 4,699,755, up 457,707 from the 2013 Census.^[3]
  • There are 2,319,558 males in New Zealand (49.35% of the population) and 2,380,197 females (50.65% of the population).^[20]
• On average, the population grew by around 2.1% per year since the 2013 Census – significantly higher than the annual average growth between 2006 and 2013, which was 0.7%.^[3]
  • The higher growth rate is consistent with higher net migration of 259,000 in the five years ended 30 June 2018 compared with 59,000 in the seven years ended 30 June 2013.^[3]
• Among children (under 15 years), males outnumbered females, with around 105 males for every 100 females. The ratio declined with age: there were 104 males for every 100 females in the age group of 15–29, 95 males for every 100 females at ages 30–64 years, and 87 males for every 100 females at age 65 or above.^[3]
• There was a total of 1,855,962 occupied and unoccupied private dwellings, 108,558 more than in 2013.^[3]
  • Ten percent of private dwellings were unoccupied.^[3]

Birthplace

In 2018, 3,370,122 people (71.7%) were born in New Zealand, with 1,329,633 (28.3%) born overseas.

Data is for the census's usually-resident population.^[20]

More information Birthplace, Responses ...

Birthplace	Responses		Change from 2013
	Number	%	Number	pp
New Zealand	3,370,122	71.71	389,298	1.44
Overseas	1,329,633	28.29	327,846	4.68
England	210,915	4.49	4,674	0.92
China, Mainland	132,906	2.83	43,785	0.73
India	117,348	2.50	50,172	0.91
Australia	75,696	1.61	12,984	0.04
South Africa	71,382	1.52	17,104	0.61
Philippines	67,632	1.44	30,333	0.50
Fiji	62,310	1.33	9,555	0.01
Samoa	55,512	1.18	4,851	0.09
South Korea	30,975	0.66	4,374	0.01
United States	27,678	0.59	6,216	0.05
Tonga	26,856	0.57	4,443	0.04
Scotland	26,136	0.56	183	0.09
Total people stated	4,641,897	98.77	–	–
Inadequately described	432	0.01	–	–
Not stated	57,426	1.22	–	–
Total	4,699,755	100	457,707	9.74

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Ethnicity

There was no change in the top five ethnicities between the 2013 and 2018 censuses, which are New Zealand European (64.1%), Māori (16.5%), Chinese (4.9%), Indian (4.7%), and Samoan (3.9%).^[22]

Data is for the census usually-resident population count.^[20]

Results add up to over 100% due to people declaring multiple ethnicities.

Religion

Most New Zealanders, 48.5% of the population, identify as being irreligious. Data is for the census usually-resident population count.^[20]

Language

The vast majority of New Zealanders, 95.4%, speak English; in second place is Māori, with 4.0% of the population being able to speak it. Data is for the census usually-resident population count.^[20]

Māori descent

18.5% of New Zealanders have at least some Māori descent. Data is for the census usually-resident population count.^[20]

Age

The largest age group is people aged 25 to 29, who comprise 7.3% of the population. Data is the census usually-resident population count.^[20]

Sex

Data is the census usually-resident population count.^[20]

Income

Data is for the census usually-resident population count of people aged 15 years and over.^[20]

Industry of employment

Data is for the census usually-resident population count of employed people aged 15 years and over.^[20]

Home ownership

Data is for the census usually-resident population count of people aged 15 years and over.^[20]

Marriage status

Data is for the census usually-resident population count of people aged 15 years and over.^[20]