New Zealand Census 2013: A short commentary on the role which the Census plays and the findings of the 2013 Census

Abstract

This short paper aims to discuss the role and the importance of the Census in New Zealand. It also discusses some of the multitude of uses of Census data in various contexts to help us understand the demographic and socio‐economic landscape of New Zealand. Debates internationally on the nature, scale and frequency of a national Census, or even whether a Census is necessary at all, mean that we cannot take this valuable resource for granted. With this in mind, we as geographers have a wealth of data to explore and analyse that we should take full advantage of. What gets counted counts!

Pandemics and emergent digital inequalities

“…The 5‐yearly census (Campbell, 2015) provides some cursory recent statistics on the nation's digital divide. Using household data from the 2018 Census, Table 1 shows there is still a small proportion (1.1%) of NZ households that have no access at all to telecommunications.…”

Geosimulation approach for filling the gap of non‐response smoking data from the census 2013: A spatial analysis of census area unit geographies

“…New Zealand is unique when it comes to collecting population data on smoking behaviour using the census. The first data on smoking behaviour were collected in the 1976 census, and smoking questions have featured in subsequent censuses (in 1981, 1996, 2006 and 2013) (Campbell, ). The census provides useful information about current and past smokers, as well as about people who have never smoked.…”