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Information about the Census of Population and Dwellings 1981 |
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Availability
| Valid From: .. | 03/24/1981 |
| To: .. | 03/24/1981 01:00:00 AM |
| Frequency: .. | Five-Yearly |
Design
Purpose: The primary purpose of the Census of Population and Dwellings is to provide information to Government as specified and required by the Statistics Act 1975 and its precedents. In addition to this, the census has traditionally also been used as the vehicle for obtaining full coverage information on a number of other social and economic parameters to satisfy the needs of other government and non-government functions.
The Census of Population and Dwellings is the primary source of information on the size, composition, distribution, economic activities and state of well-being of the population. Census data are used for analysing trends, planning public services and allocating public funds in the areas of health, housing, transport, education, income and law and order.
Constitutionally the census provides the statistical base for the revision of central and local government electoral boundaries. Census figures are also the basis of population estimates and projections, which are critical to many planning and policy-related activities, such as allocation of health funds.
The Electoral Act 1975 also requires information to be obtained in the five yearly population census for the purpose of redistribution of electoral populations. The sections of the Electoral Act which directly relate to the population census require information on adjusted de facto population location and people of Maori descent.
The Treaty of Waitangi established principles for political, social and economic relationships between the Crown and the Mäori tribes of New Zealand. An implication of the Treaty is that the Crown has an obligation to produce official statistics on an iwi basis, in a form consistent with the requirements of the Treaty. The census is potentially the only instrument capable of producing adequate iwi population and Mäori ancestry statistics on a national basis.
Statistics Act 1975:
Part III relates to the Census of Population and Dwellings.
General Information ..Target Population: All people and dwellings in New Zealand on Census night
Statistical Unit: 'Individual', 'Family' , 'Household', and 'Dwelling'
Under Coverage: Estimated by accumulated error of closure
Population and Sample Size: Full coverage
For copies of the individual and dwelling form questionnaires refer to Appendix 3 in the 1996 publication "Introduction to the Census". This publication also has copies of other questionnaires back to 1916. With a few exceptions, questionnaires prior to this do not appear to be in existence.
Output Variables
Output variables are pieces of individual information that can be extracted from the survey/output data. Often output variables can be cross tabulated with other output variables, for example sales by industry classification. The list below contains all current and past output variables which have been released for this survey/output.
Dwelling Metadata
Family Metadata
| Variable | Description |
| Family Indicator | The Family Indicator groups people into families at the highest level of the family type classification. It identifies whether the subject is in a one-parent, two-parent, or couple only family. This is a derived variable and the quality is dependent on the completeness and correct classification of the family coding data. |
| Age of Youngest Child | Age of Youngest Child in Family selects the person with a family role of "child" in the family nucleus with the lowest age. (A child is a person of any age with a family role of "child"; usually residing with at least one other person in a parent/child relationship and not usually residing with a partner or child(ren) of their own.) Age is the length of time a person has been alive measured in complete, elapsed years since birth at the date of the Census and is derived from the date of birth specified on the individual questionnaire. Where this was missing, age was imputed. This is a derived variable and the quality is dependent on the completeness and correct classification of the family coding data. Allowable Values: 0-29 (single year of age from 0 to 29) 30 and Over No child roles Note: the youngest child may be an absentee. |
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Individual Metadata
| Variable | Description |
| Person Type | This variable defines the status of the person in the population. People are categorised by their age (an adult is anybody aged 15 years or over on Census Night, a child is anybody aged under 15 years of age on Census Night) and by their place of usual residence (NZ or Overseas). Absentees are people usual resident in private dwellings but who are recorded as being away (for less than 3 months) from their place of usual residence on Census Night. This information was recorded on the Dwelling Questionnaire and up to four absentees were listed in any private dwelling. An absentee may be a family or non-family member. The category includes children away at boarding school, and people away on business, on holiday, in hospital, etc. Excluded are long-term hospital patients and university and other tertiary students who live away from the dwelling for most of the year. Required details of people temporarily absent on census night include name, sex, age, relationship to occupier and marital status. Absentees are not recorded for non-private dwellings. Allowable Values: NZ Adult NZ Child Overseas Adult Overseas Child Absentee |
| Age | The age of a person, is calculated in whole years and is the length of time elapsed between birth and data collection date, in this case, on Census Night. The age data is derived from Question 3 and 4 on the personal questionnaire: 3. DATE OF BIRTHDAY: Day of Month ......................... Month of Year ............................... 4. YEAR BORN, OR AGE LAST BIRTHDAY: SPECIFY EITHER YEAR BORN:..................... OR AGE LAST BIRTHDAY:............................. (years). Missing values were imputed and therefore all people (including absentee records) have a valid age recorded. Approximately one percent of ages were imputed using automated procedures. Age is a flat classification, single year categories from 0 years to 149 years inclusive, plus a category for 150 years or over. Age is frequently aggregated into 5-year and 10-year groupings for output, or to define functional age groups in a community. It is a key variable widely used in cross-tabulations with other variables such as ethnicity, marital status and occupation. Under the Statistics Act 1975, the Census of Population and Dwellings must collect the age of every person. |
| Sex | The sex of a person is the biological distinction between males and females. Gender was not asked for and it is therefore incorrect to refer to this data as "gender". The sex data is taken from Question 2 on the personal questionnaire: Sex TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Male Female All people who did not specify their sex had a value imputed. Under the Statistics Act 1975, the Census of Population and Dwellings must include a question on sex. Sex is one of the most basic demographic variables. It is widely used in Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) data collections. Data analysis involving age, labour force participation, unemployment rates, educational achievements, migration patterns and income levels often include cross-tabulation by sex to identify different patterns between males and females. The variable is also used in imputation and derivation of related variables. For example, sex is used in the population census age imputation module; and it is used to derive the family type variable. |
| Usual Residence Areas | The actual address is not stored in the dataset, but is used for deriving the geographic location at meshblock level and above. Allowable Values for Usual Residence Areas (with year of current classification used): Meshblock (81) Area Unit (81) Maori Electoral District (80) General Electoral District (80) Urban Areas (81) Local Authority based on 1981 Meshblock Ward (81) Local Government Region based on 1981 Meshblock Note: data has been rebased to 1996 boundaries and is available by these boundaries. It is being currently rebased to the boundaries for the 2001 and is due for release mid-2001. |
| Usual Residence | The usual residence data is collected from Question 7 on the Personal Questionnaire: 6 FULL ADDRESS ON CENSUS NIGHT: (DO NOT GIVE P.O. BOX OR RURAL DELIVERY NUMBERS) .............................. .............................. ............................. (Number in street, Name of suburb or rural Name of city, town, or country and name of street, locality (if any) road etc.) 7. USUAL RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS(*): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Same as address given in Question 6 above N.Z. resident with no fixed residential address in N.Z. Usually resident overseas (see Census guide) ........................................................ (Name of Country) Other fixed residential address in N.Z. SPECIFY: (i) Number in street, and name of street, road, etc:......................... (ii) Name of suburb or rural locality (if any):.................................... (iii) Name of city, town, or country:................................................. Allowable Values: Not Usual Residence Same Residence Same Meshblock There were 3,081 respondents whose usual residence was 'not specified' on Census night. |
| Usual Residential Address One Year Ago Area unit one year ago Local Authority one year ago Urban Area one year ago Geographic County one year ago Local Government Region one year ago Statistical Division one year ago Statistical Area one year ago | Usual residential address one year ago refers to the address in which the respondent usually lived one year ago (24 March 1980), based on 1981 geographic boundaries: The data is collected from Question 8 on the Personal Questionnaire. 8. USUAL RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ONE YEAR AGO (24 MARCH 1980): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Same as address in Question 7 Page One Not applicable (born since 24 March 1980) Living in an overseas country on 24 March 1980 .................................................. (Name of Country) Other SPECIFY: (i) Number in street, and name of street, road, etc.:............................. (ii) Name of suburb or rural locality (if any): ........................................ (iii) Name of city, town, or county:....................................................... Although question 8 records the respondents' address one year ago, there is no simple indicator like the usual residence indicator for this variable. The usual residence address one year ago question records: Area unit one year ago Local Authority one year ago Urban Area one year ago Geographic County one year ago Local Government Region one year ago Statistical Division one year ago Statistical Area one year ago |
| Address in 1976 - Area unit five years ago Local Authority five years ago Urban Area five years ago Geographic County five years ago Local Government Region five years ago Statistical Division five years ago Statistical Area five years ago | Usual residential address at previous census refers to the address in which the respondent usually lived five years ago at the time of the 1976 Census (based on 1981 geographic boundaries). The data is collected from Question 9 on the Personal Questionnaire. 9. USUAL RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS AT PREVIOUS CENSUS (23 MARCH 1976): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Same as address in Question 7 Page One Same as address written in Question 8 Above Not applicable (born since 23 March 1976) Living in an overseas country on 23 March 1976 .................................................. (Name of Country) Other SPECIFY: (i) Number in street, and name of street, road, etc.:............................. (ii) Name of suburb or rural locality (if any): ........................................ (iii) Name of city, town, or county:....................................................... Although question 9 records the respondent's usual address five years ago there is no simple indicator like the usual residence indicator for this variable. The address five years ago question records: Area unit five years ago Local Authority five years ago Urban Area five years ago Geographic County five years ago Local Government Region five years ago Statistical Division five years ago Statistical Area five years ago |
| Years at Usual Address | Years at usual address refers to the length of time in completed years (ignoring absences of less than 3 months) that a person has resided permanently at their current usual address. This question was asked in 1976, not in 1981, and again from 1986. |
| Family Code | This variable assigns the role a person has within their family group to which they are coded. Family Code is collated from Question 18 on the dwelling questionnaire relating to absentees from the dwelling, Question 5 of the personal questionnaire relating each person in the dwelling to the occupier (the person filling in the dwelling questionnaire). The completeness (and accuracy) of both response and processing of the contributing questions has a direct bearing on the quality of this variable. Question 18 - Dwelling Questionnaire: 18. PERSONS ABSENT ON CENSUS NIGHT: PERSON 1 PERSON 2 PERSON 3 PERSON 4 (i) Surname or Family Name: (ii) Christian or First Names: (iii) Sex: (iv) Age (in years): (v) Marital status: (vi) Relationship to occupier: (vii) Address or location (if known) Question 5 - Personal Questionnaire 5. RELATIONSHIP TO OCCUPIER OR TO PERSON IN CHARGE OF DWELLING ON CENSUS NIGHT (*): EITHER (A) IF IN A PRIVATE DWELLING (e.g. house, flat) ON CENSUS NIGHT, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Occupier Spouse (husband or wife ) of occupier Daughter or son (including adopted or step) or occupier Flatmate Guest or visitor Boarder Grandchild of occupier Father, mother, father-in-law, or mother-in-law of occupier Brother or sister of occupier Nephew, niece or cousin of occupier Other -> SPECIFY (e.g. son-in-law, lodger, foster child): ................................................. OR (B) IF IN A NON-PRIVATE DWELLING (e.g. hotel, motel, hospital, hostel, camp, ship) ON CENSUS NIGHT, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Person in charge of a non-private dwelling Member of family of, or non-paying guest of, person in charge Resident staff in non-private dwelling Paying guest, patient, other resident or inmate of a non-private dwelling Parent (1st family) Child (1st family) Parent (2nd family) Child (2nd family) Parent (3rd family) Child (3rd family) Member (other families) Non Family Person Person Alone Guest |
| Relationship to Occupier | This variable records the marital, familial or non-familial relationship of each person in the dwelling (and of those temporarily absent) to the occupier, as reported on their personal questionnaires or on the dwelling questionnaire in the case of the absentees. The occupier (more correctly referred to in recent years as the reference person) is the person who completed the dwelling questionnaire and is, according to the guide notes, the person who is in charge of the dwelling on Census Night. The main use of the relationship data is to derive household and family variables, such as household composition and family type. Occasionally the data is used as an output variable or as a means of defining specific non-standard household composition types.. The data for the variable is from Question 5 on the personal questionnaire: Question 5 - Personal Questionnaire 5. RELATIONSHIP TO OCCUPIER OR TO PERSON IN CHARGE OF DWELLING ON CENSUS NIGHT (*): EITHER (A) IF IN A PRIVATE DWELLING (e.g. house, flat) ON CENSUS NIGHT, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Occupier Spouse (husband or wife ) of occupier Daughter or son (including adopted or step) of occupier Flatmate Guest or visitor Boarder Grandchild of occupier Father, mother, father-in-law, or mother-in-law of occupier Brother or sister of occupier Nephew, niece or cousin of occupier Other -> SPECIFY (e.g. son-in-law, lodger, foster child): ................................................. OR (B) IF IN A NON-PRIVATE DWELLING (e.g. hotel, motel, hospital, hostel, camp, ship) ON CENSUS NIGHT, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Person in charge of a non-private dwelling Member of family of, or non-paying guest of, person in charge Resident staff in non-private dwelling Paying guest, patient, other resident or inmate of a non-private dwelling Allowable Values: Occupier Spouse of Occupier Son or Daughter Son/Daughter-in-law Parent or Parent-in-law Grandparent Grandchild Brother, Sister or in-law Uncle or Aunt Nephew, Niece, Cousin Foster Child Flat-mate Guest or visitor Boarder Lodger Housekeeper (Live-in) Other Live-in Employee Other Occupant of Private Dwelling Head of Non-private Dwelling Family of Head, Non-private dwelling Resident Staff, Non-private dwelling Inmates or guests, Non-private dwelling |
| Birthdate | The date of birth of a respondent is asked in Question 3 and 4 on the Personal Questionnaire. Values required include: Day of Birth Month of Birth Year of Birth It is used to establish age (using information from the dwelling form where necessary as supporting evidence). Where this data is missing or inconsistent with the dwelling form, the age is imputed. Under the Statistics Act 1975, the Census of Population and Dwellings collect age for all people. Question 3 and 4 3. DATE OF BIRTHDAY: Day of Month.......................... Month of Year....................... 4. YEAR BORN, OR AGE LAST BIRTHDAY: SPECIFY EITHER YEAR BORN:................ OR AGE LAST BIRTHDAY:........................ (Years). |
| Birthplace | Birthplace refers to the country where the respondent was born based on current national boundaries at the time of the Census. The data for the variable is from Question 10 on the Personal Questionnaire: 10. COUNTRY OF BIRTH(*): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: New Zealand Other country -> SPECIFY: (A) Present name of country................... and (B) Number of years in N.Z.:................... (if under 1 year, write '0') There are 243 different categories included in the classification for this variable. It contains 240 different countries (including New Zealand) together with 'Born at Sea', 'Beyond NZ Undefined', and 'Not Specified'. The "Not Specified" category was 13,311 people ( 0.42 percent) out of a total of 3,143,307 usually resident people. |
| Duration of Residence in N.Z. | Duration of Residence in New Zealand, refers to the number of years a person who was born overseas has lived in New Zealand. It does not refer to any period of time that a person born in New Zealand has been resident outside this country. The data for this variable is from question 10 of the personal questionnaire which combines the country of birth question with duration of residence. 10. COUNTRY OF BIRTH(*): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: New Zealand Other country -> SPECIFY: (A) Present name of country................... and (B) Number of years in N.Z.:................... (if under 1 year, write '0') This is a flat classification, from less than 1 year, and from 1 to 50 and over years. Output can be by single years or in aggregated brackets, for example, 1-19, 20-29,30-39, 40-49,50 and over years, etc. |
| Ethnic Origin | At the 1981 Census the term 'ethnic origin' referred to the blood mixture of races within a person, calculated by adding one half of the mother's ethnic origin(s) to one half of the father's ethnic origin(s). Half or more origin was the general classification for inclusion into an ethnic group and cases of half origins were assigned to one particular ethnic classification according to the following priority order: NZ Maori, Pacific Island Polynesian, Other ethnic Groups (excluding European), and European. Thus, as an example, a person who is 1/2 New Zealand Maori - 1/2 Cook Island Maori, is counted as a New Zealand Maori. For the 1986 Census this classification was changed: people of both 'one origin' and 'mixed origin' have resulted from the dropping of fractions of origin from the 1986 Census question on ethnic origin. Also, where a person is of two or three ethnic origins the priority order used at the 1981 and earlier censuses i.e. New Zealand Maori, Pacific Island Polynesian, Chinese, Indian, Other Origins and European, was abolished. However, where four or more ethnic origins were stated the priority list was still applicable. 'Sole Origin' refers to those people who stated only one ethnic origin on their personal questionnaire. In 1991, the concept was different, referring to "ethnic group", and up to three responses were coded. Where more than one group has been indicated, the person is classified as being of "two ethnic groups" or "three ethnic groups", as appropriate. Also, a system of prioritising ethnic groups was used when it was required that each person should be counted only once. In 1996, ethnicity was collected, and again, three responses were recorded. Question 12 on the Personal Questionnaire asked respondents to tick the box or boxes which applied to them to show which ethnic group they belonged to. Question 12: 12. ETHNIC ORIGIN(*): EITHER (a) IF OF ONLY ONE (FULL) ORIGIN, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: Full European, or full Caucasian Full N.Z. Maori Full Samoan Full Cook Island Maori Full Chinese Full Indian Full Niuean Full Tongan Other full origin -> SPECIFY:......................................................... (e.g. Tokelauan, Japanese, Vietnamese) OR (B) IF MORE THAN ONE ORIGIN, GIVE PARTICULARS: ........................................................................................................ (e.g. 7/8 European+1/8 N.Z. Maori; 1/4 N.Z. Maori+1/4 Niuean; 1/2 Chinese+1/4 European + 1/4 Samoan) The "Not Specified" category was 36,612 people ( 1.16 percent) out of a total of 3,143,307 usually resident people. |
| Religious Denomination | Religious denomination is the self-identified association of a person with a religion or a religious denomination. The data for this variable comes from question 11 on the personal questionnaire: 11. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION (*): SPECIFY: ......................................... There is a statutory right to object to stating religious denomination, providing the word "OBJECT" is entered. The number of "Not Specified" responses were 104,329 people (3.32%) and the number of people who objected were 468,570 (14.91%) out of a usually resident New Zealand population of 3,143,307. |
| Education: High School Attendance Highest School Qualification Past Tertiary Attendance Current Attendance Highest Education Level First Qualification Year of Attendance - First Qualification Second Qualification Third Qualification Fourth Qualification | In 1981 all people usually resident in New Zealand were required to answer question on qualifications. This is not comparable with 1976 where all people aged 15 years and over answered these questions. Attendance at courses in 1981 was constrained to formal primary, secondary and tertiary courses and excluded occasional courses, so again the data is not comparable with 1976. Highest School Qualification is defined as the highest school qualification gained by people aged 15 years and over. A school qualification is an award for educational attainment awarded by a 'secondary school' or 'educational institution', as defined by the Education Act and refers to a qualification obtained from a completed course only. A tertiary qualification refers to all post school or tertiary qualifications that people aged 15 years and over have obtained since leaving school. The qualification must be awarded by:
26. HIGHEST LEVEL ATTENDED AT SCHOOL (*): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES > No Primary or Secondary Schooling > Primary or Intermediate School (Standard 6 or below) Secondary School: > Form 3 > Form 4 > Form 5 > Form 6 > Form 7 27. HIGHEST SCHOOL QUALIFICATION GAINED(*): IF YOU HAVE TICKED ONE OF THE BOXES NUMBERED 1 TO 4 IN QUESTION 26 ABOVE, TICK BOX: [ ] THEN GO TO QUESTION 28. OTHERWISE, TICK BOX BELOW WHICH APPLIES:- > No School qualification > University Scholarship or 'A' or 'B' Bursary > Higher School Certificate, Higher Leaving Certificate > University Entrance, Matriculation > Endorsed School Certificate, Sixth Form Certificate in 4 or more subjects > Sixth Form Certificate in 1, 2 or 3 subjects > School Certificate or 3 or more subject passes in School Cert. > 1 or 2 subject passes in School Certificate > Other -> SPECIFY:.................................................. 28. OTHER PLACES OF EDUCATION ATTENDED OR AT WHICH ENROLLED(*): IF STILL ATTENDING PRIMARY OR SECONDARY SCHOOL, TICK BOX [ ] THEN GO TO QUESTION 29. OTHERWISE ANSWER PARTS (A) OR (B) BELOW BY TICKING BOX OR BOXES WHICH APPLY: (A) Past Attendance: - > None > University > Teachers College > Polytechnic or Technical Institute > Other -> SPECIFY:............................................ (e.g. Business College, Nursing School) (B) Current Attendance: > None > University > Teachers College > Polytechnic or Technical Institute > Other -> SPECIFY:............................................ (e.g. Business College, Nursing School) 29. ACADEMIC, VOCATIONAL, OR PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS GAINED SINCE LEAVING SCHOOL (*): EITHER (A) TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: > No qualifications, or no relevant qualifications > Still at school OR (B) >Specify academic, vocational, or professional qualifications gain through prescribed courses of study since leaving school, starting with the most recently gained. If more than one qualification in a particular field or subject, give only the highest qualification in that field or subject. Also give field or subject associated with each qualification, and year qualification gained. Do not use abbreviations, and do not give recreational qualifications, qualifications not yet fully gained, or courses of study which did not produce a qualification. NAME OF QUALIFICATION FIELD OR SUBJECT YEAR GAINED Qualification 1:....................................... ....................................... ................................ Qualification 2:....................................... ....................................... ................................ Qualification 3:....................................... ....................................... ................................ Qualification 4:....................................... ....................................... ................................ Allowable Output Values: High School Attendance: No primary or secondary Primary - up to Form 2 Form 2 Form 4 Form 5 Form 6 Form 7 Not specified Highest School Qualification No school qualification University Scholarship Higher School Certificate University Entrance Endorsed School Certificate Sixth Form Certificate School Certificate Pass in 1,2 School Certificate Subjects Other Qualifications Not Specified Past Tertiary Attendance None at a Tertiary Institution Still at Primary/Secondary School University Teachers College Polytechnic-Technical Institute-Community College Other University/Teachers College University /Polytechnic-Technical Institute-Community College Other Combinations Not Specified Current Attendance None at a tertiary institution Still at Primary/Secondary school University Teachers College Polytechnic-Technical-Community College Other University/Teacher's College University/Polytechnic-Technical Institute-Community College Other combinations Not Specified Highest Education Level Still Attending School No Secondary Education 3rd, 4th or 5th Form 6th Form 7th Form University Teachers Training College Polytechnic-Technical Institute-Community College University/Teachers College University/Polytechnic-Technical Institute-Community College Other Tertiary Not Specified First Qualification No relevant qualification Still at school Unidentifiable qualification Not specified Year of Attendance (first qualification) 1900 or Earlier 1901 .. .. 1981 Not Applicable Not Specified Year of Attendance (second qualification) 1900 or Earlier 1901 .. .. 1981 Not Applicable Not Specified Year of Attendance (third qualification) 1900 or Earlier 1901 .. .. 1981 Not Applicable Not Specified Year of Attendance (fourth qualification) 1900 or Earlier 1901 .. .. 1981 Not Applicable Not Specified |
| Marital Status - Legal Marital Status - De Facto Status | Marital status is a person's reported status with respect to the marriage laws or customs of the country. Legal marital status is a person's status with respect to registered marriage. A person's legal marital status can be legally married for the first time, remarried, separated, divorced, widowed or never married. In 1981, there was no distinction made between married for the first time and remarried. Living in a de facto relationship was asked as an alternative to the legal marital status question. The data for this variable is from Question 14 on the personal questionnaire: 14. PRESENT MARITAL STATUS: (A) TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: > Never married > Married > Married but permanently separated > Widowed > Divorced (B) IF LIVING IN A DE FACTO RELATIONSHIP (as husband/wife), TICK BOX: [ ] The "Not Specified" was 46,278 people ( 2.01 percent) out of a total of 2,296,704 usually resident people aged 15 years and over. Output can be by the above categories for legal marital status and 'Not Defacto' or 'Defacto' for Defacto status. Marital status, both legal and de facto, is a key variable for determining the demographic characteristics of a population, as well as its socio-economic attributes. |
| Number of Children Born | In 1981 usually resident people aged 15 years and over were asked the number of children born alive to them. These fertility data were used to study difference in family size and structure for women in various age, ethnic and other sub-groups of the NZ population. Information on 'children ever born' has been used by SNZ to supplement fertility studies based on birth registration data, and to aid family coding during census processing. Another use is in formulation of fertility assumptions for population projections produced by SNZ. The data for this variable is from Question 15 on the personal questionnaire: 15. NUMBER OF CHILDREN BORN: IF A FEMALE, SPECIFY NUMBER OF CHILDREN BORN ALIVE TO YOU, INCLUDING ANY WHO HAVE SINCE DIED, BUT DO NOT INCLUDE STEP-CHILDREN OR ADOPTED CHILDREN: ........................................(IF NONE WRITE '0') IF A MALE, TICK BOX: [ ] Allowable Values: Flat counts are available ranging from '0' to '30 and Over', Not Applicable and Not Specified. In 1981, there were 28,455 (2.44 percent) women who did not specify an answer for this question out of 1,166,364 usually resident women aged 15 years and over. This question was first asked in the 1911 Census, then 1971, 1976, here in 1981, and in the 1996 Census. The data is not necessarily comparable over time (for example, 1976 asked for number of children born while married, i.e. marital live fecundity, rather than asking for total live fecundity, and only women who were currently or had been married were asked to answer, whereas later questions asked for all live births) |
| Total Income Social Security Income Income from Other Sources Total Personal Income | Note on use of these variables: it is possible to obtain a median income figure from this data, but this can only be regarded as approximate because (as is common with all grouped data) the actual distribution with the range is not known. However, it is not possible to derive a mean income value (commonly referred to as "average income") because of the open-ended nature of both the highest category ($60,000+ for 1981) and the lowest category (Loss) Income from Social Security Benefits This is a total of income from ALL social security benefits received by all usually resident people aged 15 years and over, for the year ending 31 March 1981. Income from social security benefits is a gross figure collected from question 24 on the personal questionnaire. 24. INCOME FROM SECURITY BENEFITS (including National Superannuation, Family Benefit, and War Pensions)(*):
Nil $1 t o $499 $500 to $999 $1,000 to $1,999 $2,000 to $2,999 $3,000 to $3,999 $4,000 to $4,999 $5,000 to $5,999 $6,000 or over Nil $1 - $499 $500 - $999 $1,000 - $1,999 $2,000 - $2,999 $3,000 - $3,999 $4,000 - $4,999 $5,000 - $5,999 $6,000 - $6,999 $7,000 - $7,999 $8,000 - $8,999 $9,000 - $9,999 $10,000 and over Not Defined Not Specified This is a total of income from ALL other sources excluding social security benefits received by usually resident people aged 15 years and over. Income from all other sources is a gross figure for the financial year ending 31 March 1981, collected from question 25 on the personal questionnaire.
Nil or loss $1 to $249 $250 to $499 $500 to $999 $1,000 to $1,999 $2,000 to $3,499 $3,500 to $4,999 $5,000 to $6,499 $6,500 to $7,999 $8,000 to $9,999 $10,000 to $11,999 $12,000 to $13,999 $14,000 to $15,999 $16,000 to $17,999 $18,000 to $19,999 $20,000 to $22,499 $22,500 to $24,999 $25,000 to $27,499 $22,599 to $24,999 $25,000 to $27,499 $27,500 to $29,999 $30,000 to $34,999 $35,000 to $39,999 $40,000 to $49,999 $50,000 to $59,999 $60,000 or over
$1 - $249 $250 - $499 $500 - $999 $1,000 - $1,999 $2,000 - $3,499 $3,500 - $4,999 $5,000 - $6,499 $6,500 - $7,999 $8,000 - $9,999 $10,000 - $11,999 $12,000 - $13,999 $14,000 - $15,999 $16,000 - $17,999 $18,000 - $19,000 $20,000 - $22,499 $27,500 - $29,999 $30,000 - $34,999 $35,000 - $39,999 $40,000 - $49,999 $50,000 - $59,999 $60,000 and Over Not Defined Not Specified In the calculation, if any value of income from social security benefits or income from other sources was reported as "Not Specified" then the Total Personal Income was set to "Not Specified" unless the personal incomes from other sources equalled $60,000 or more in which case the Total Personal Income was recorded in this top income bracket. Or, if the household included an absentee (for whom there is no income data), then the value of Total Household Income was set to "Not Available" unless the sum of the mid-points personal incomes of the remaining household members equalled $60,000 or more in which case the Total Household Income was recorded in this top income bracket. Total income is defined as the total income, before tax, a person aged 15 years and over receives for the financial year ending 31 March 1981 from all sources. This includes: income from wages, salary; Social Welfare payments (including national superannuation); family care, family benefit; interest, dividends, rent, commission; fringe benefits or income in kind; pre-tax business or farming income (less expenses); accident compensation weekly payments; bursary, scholarship; and superannuation. This is a derived variable generated by the response to Question 24 and Question 25 on the personal questionnaire (see above for the actual questions). Allowable Values:
$1 - $249 $250 - $499 $500 - $999 $1,000 - $1,999 $2,000 - $3,499 $3,500 - $4,999 $5,000 - $6,499 $6,500 - $7,999 $8,000 - $9,999 $10,000 - $11,999 $12,000 - $13,999 $14,000 - $15,999 $16,000 - $17,999 $18,000 - $19,999 $20,000 - $22,499 $22,500 - $24,999 $25,000 - $27,499 $27,500 - $29,999 $30,000 - $34,999 $35,000 - $39,999 $40,000 - $49,999 $50,000 - $59,999 $60,000 and Over Not Defined Not Specified |
| Social Security Payments Received | Social Welfare Payments Received The term "Social Security Payments" refers to payments, benefits, pensions, etc. received by people aged 15 years and over from the Department of Social Welfare, Accident Compensation Commission or other sources (including maintenance from a former partner whether by formal or formal agreement) during the twelve months prior to the 1981 Census. Excluded are Accident Compensation Commission lump sum payments, housekeeping allowances, pocket money, and board and other payments received by members of a respondent's household. The data for this variable is obtained from question 23 of the personal questionnaire: 23. SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS (including National Superannuation, Family Benefit, and War Pensions) (*):
TICK BOX OR BOXES WHICH APPLY: > None > Family Benefit > National Superannuation > Unemployment Benefit > Sickness Benefit > Domestic Purposes Benefit > Widows Benefit > Invalids Benefit > War Pension > Miners Benefit > Orphans Benefit > Other Benefit --> SPECIFY:............................................... Allowable values: No Benefit Received Family National Superannuation Unemployment Sickness Domestic Purposes Widow's Invalid's War Pension (or allowance) Miner's/Miner's Widow's Orphan's Death (of Spouse) Assistance for Disabled Overseas (Govt.) Pension Disability Allowance Family/National Superannuation Family/Unemployment Family/Sickness Family/Domestic Purposes' Family/Widow's Family/Invalid's Family/War Pension Family/Other National Superannuation/Domestic Purposes National Superannuation/Unemployment National Superannuation/Widow's National Superannuation/Invalid's National Superannuation/War Pension National Superannuation/Other Unemployment/Domestic Purposes Unemployment/War Pension Unemployment/Other Sickness/National Superannuation Sickness/Unemployment Sickness/Domestic Purposes Sickness/Invalid's Sickness/War Pension Sickness/Other Domestic Purposes/Other Widow's/War Pension Widow's/Other Invalid's/War Pension Invalid's/Other War Pension/Other Family/National Super/War Family/National Super/Other Family/Unemployment/Sickness Family/Unemployment/Domestic Purposes Family/Unemployment/War Family/Unemployment/Other Family/Domestic Purposes/Sickness Family/Domestic Purposes/Other Family/Widow's/Other National Super/Unemployment/War National Super/Unemployment/Other National Super/Widow's/War National Super/Widow's/Other National Super/Invalid's/War National Super/Invalid's/Other National Super/War/Other Unemployment/Sickness/Invalid's Unemployment/Sickness/War Unemployment/Sickness/Other Unemployment/War/Other Sickness/Domestic Purposes/Other Sickness/War/Other Family/Unemployment/Domestic Purposes/Other Family/Sickness/Domestic Purposes/Other Other Combinations Benefits Undefined Not Specified |
| Employment Status | The variable employment status records the relationship between workers, their jobs and the economic entities to which they provide their labour, and information about the unemployed. Data is collected for this variable from all usually resident people aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is obtained from question 17 of the personal questionnaire: 17 EMPLOYMENT STATUS (*): IF YOUR ANSWER TO QUESTION 16 (D) WAS 20 HOURS OR MORE, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES TO YOUR (MAIN) JOB: > Employer of labour in own business or profession > Working on own account and not employing labour > Working for wages or salary > Relative assisting in business (farm, shop, et.) and NOT receiving wages OTHERWISE, TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: > Unemployed and seeking work > Retired > Full-time student > Household duties (unpaid) > Other ---> SPECIFY: (e.g. Invalid):.......................................... Allowable Values: Self Employed - Has employees Self Employed - No employees Wage or Salary Earner Relative Assisting - Unpaid Unemployed Seeking Work Not Specified (20 Hrs or More) Retired Full-Time Student Household Duties - Unpaid Other |
| Occupation | An occupation is defined as a set of jobs which involve the performance of a common set of tasks. A job is a set of tasks performed or designed to be performed by one individual. Two jobs are similar if they have similar sets of tasks, that is, if they involve the same type of work. Occupation is the job, trade, profession or type of work in which a person is employed for financial reward or as an unpaid worker in a family business. Occupation is classified according to the New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupation 1968 (NZSCO68). This is a skills-based occupation classification applicable to New Zealand labour force conditions. It groups occupations together by a similar skill requirement rather than by a similarity of the type of work performed, thus each major group has a skill level equivalent to a formal qualification or on the job training, for example, major group 2, the professionals group, usually requires an university degree. The Occupation question is answered by all Usually Resident people aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is collected from Question 18 on the personal questionnaire. 18. OCCUPATION (*) Job, profession, trade or type of work in which you now work full-time or part-time for financial reward, or as an unpaid relative assisting. State fully, e.g. sheep farmer, auto-electrician, builder's labourer, dental nurse, wages clerk. If unemployed, state previous occupation. Otherwise, write NIL. .......................................................................................................... |
| Industry | Industry is the type of activity undertaken by the organisation, enterprise, business or unit of economic activity within which a person is employed. Classification is according to the New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (NZSIC75). This classification identifies groupings of businesses according to similar economic activity. Information is supplied in question 21 from usually resident people aged 15 years and over and combined with the locational detail in question 19 and 20. The information in these questions are used to code from the standard industrial classifications. For the 1986 Census and all censuses after this, the Business Frames system is used to electronically code industry (see 1986 Census of Population and Dwellings metadata). There are five levels in the classification (NZSIC75) > Major Division (Division) > Division (Sub-Division) > Major Group (Group) > Group (Class) > Sub-Group (Sub-Class) Output can be by any of these levels and within a level aggregation can be done. 19. NAME OF EMPLOYING ORGANISATION (*): (If Unemployed give name of previous employer.) SPECIFY:...................................................OR IF NOT APPLICABLE. TICK BOX: [ ] 20. ADDRESS OF WORKPLACE(*): EITHER (A) SPECIFY: (i) Number in street, and name of street, road, etc:............................... (ii) Name of suburb or rural locality (if any):.......................................... (iii) Name of city, town or county:........................................................ OR (B) IF NOT APPLICABLE, TICK BOX: [ ] 21. TYPE OF WORK CARRIED OUT BY EMPLOYING ORGANISATION (*): (if unemployed give type of work of previous employer.) SPECIFY: ..............................................OR IF NOT APPLICABLE TICK BOX: [ ] |
| Sector of Employment | Sector is the type of role in the national economy the organisation, enterprise, business or unit of economic activity within which a person is employed occupies according to the New Zealand Standard Institutional Sector Classification. Information supplied in questions 19, 20 and 21 are used to derive this field for usually resident people aged 15 years and over. 19. NAME OF EMPLOYING ORGANISATION (*): (If Unemployed give name of previous employer.) SPECIFY:...................................................OR IF NOT APPLICABLE. TICK BOX: [ ] 20. ADDRESS OF WORKPLACE(*): EITHER (A) SPECIFY: (i) Number in street, and name of street, road, etc:............................... (ii) Name of suburb or rural locality (if any):.......................................... (iii) Name of city, town or county:........................................................ OR (B) IF NOT APPLICABLE, TICK BOX: [ ] 21. TYPE OF WORK CARRIED OUT BY EMPLOYING ORGANISATION (*): (if unemployed give type of work of previous employer.) SPECIFY: ..............................................OR IF NOT APPLICABLE TICK BOX: [ ] Allowable Values: Not Applicable Private Sector Government Department Other Central Government Body Local Authority Other NEC Not Specified |
| Total Hours Worked Number of Hours Worked in Main Job Number of Hours Worked in Secondary Job Number of Hours Worked in Other Jobs Total Number of Hours Worked | Number of Hours Worked in Main Job Hours in Main Job are the hours worked in employment in the main job identified by all employed people in the labour force who are usually resident in New Zealand and aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is from Part A of question 16 on the personal questionnaire: Allowable Values: This is a flat classification with hours ranging from 0 to 97 hours and Over. The figure entered for this part of the question directly relates to the job that is coded for occupation, industry and employment status (paid employee, self-employed part of employment status, not the hours part). The hours a person works in their main job may only be equivalent to part-time hours whilst their total hours may calculate to the full-time designation in the labour force. Therefore, care must be taken in cross-tabulations using this variable together with the part-time / full-time status. In 1981 full-time work referred to a total of 20 hours or more per week, while part-time was less than a total of 20 hours per week. Number of Hours Worked in Second Job Hours in Second Job are the hours worked in employment in a second job identified by all employed people in the labour force who are usually resident in New Zealand and aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is from Part B of question 16 on the personal questionnaire: Allowable Values: This is a flat classification with hours ranging from 0 to 97 hours and Over. Number of Hours Worked in Other Job Hours in Other Job are the hours worked in employment in any job which is not the respondent's main or second job (i.e. third job etc.), identified by all employed people in the labour force who are usually resident in New Zealand and aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is from Part C of question 16 on the personal questionnaire: Allowable Values: This is a flat classification with hours ranging from 0 to 97 hours and Over. The variables Hours Worked in Second Job and Hours Worked in Other Jobs, are the only piece of information collected on "other jobs" and together with the hours in main job is the basis for assigning respondents to the part-time or full-time components of the labour force. Total Number of Hours Worked Per Week This is a total of ALL Hours Worked per week in any job identified by all employed people in the labour force who are usually resident in New Zealand and aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is from Part D of question 16 on the personal questionnaire: Allowable Values: This is a flat classification with hours ranging from 0 to 97 hours and Over. In 1981 full-time work referred to a total of 20 hours or more per week, while part-time was less than a total of 20 hours per week. From the 1986 Census onwards, full-time labour force status was assigned to any person who worked a total of 30 hours or more. 16. HOURS WORKED PER WEEK (*):
SPECIFY: (A) Number of Hours worked PER WEEK in main job: ......................... (B) Number of Hours worked PER WEEK in second job: (if any)............. (C) Number of hours worked PER WEEK in any other jobs: .................. (D) TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS WORKED PER WEEK IN ALL JOBS: .......................................... OR IF NONE (i.e. not working), TICK BOX [ ] |
| Workplace Area | Workplace identifies the physical location of a workplace for the purposes of the data collection and can include the name of the building, street number, name and type, suburb or rural locality, and city, town or district. A workplace is a respondent's place of paid employment, except for those respondents who work unpaid in a family business, in which case it refers to the place of that business. The data for this variable is from question 20 of the personal questionnaire: 20. ADDRESS OF WORKPLACE(*): EITHER (A) SPECIFY: (i) Number in street, and name of street, road, etc:............................... (ii) Name of suburb or rural locality (if any):.......................................... (iii) Name of city, town or county:........................................................ OR (B) IF NOT APPLICABLE, TICK BOX: [ ] The aim of the question is to obtain detailed address information about where people consider themselves to work, with the intention of providing adequate data to allow an area unit (in 1981) to be derived. Every workplace address had to be coded but frequently this was not possible to area unit level, therefore coding was to the next available level. Any other information supplied on the form such as occupation, industry, means of travel to work, status in employment could be used to determine an appropriate address. Respondents that ticked "work at home" were coded to the same meshblock as their usual residence. Output can be all these levels, however the quality of the information varies substantially according to the geographic scale of the output. Users should be aware that one of the consequences of an inability to always code to area unit is that there are people with partially coded workplace addresses, such as "XX TA not further defined". Workplace address can be cross tabulated with other individual variables such as sex, educational qualifications, income, in order to provide characteristics of the daytime population in specific geographic areas. The variable can be used in conjunction with means of travel to work and usual residence to measure traffic flows between home and work for use in the planning of transport services. The data can be used in GIS environments to generate distance travelled and other data of interest to transport analysts, Civil Defence, etc. One of the principal limitations of the data for these purposes is that there is no data on the normal workday times of people. This is expected to become increasingly an issue if shiftwork and non-traditional hours become more common. |
| Census Night Address (areas) | Census Night Address is the full address of the dwelling where a person was enumerated on Census Night, Tuesday 4 March 1981. The actual address is not stored in the dataset, but is used for deriving the geographic location at meshblock level and above. The data for this variable is from a question 2 asked on the first page on the dwelling questionnaire: All people at the dwelling on Census Night are recorded against that particular dwelling and can, therefore, include visitors, both New Zealand residents and overseas people. The address data is classified down to the meshblock level. Output can be at number of different levels within the constraints of confidentiality rules, by statistically defined or legally defined areas. 2. FULL ADDRESS OF DWELLING: (DO NOT GIVE P.O. BOX OR RURAL DELIVERY NUMBERS.) (A) SPECIFY: ............................................................................... (Number in street, and name of street, road, etc.) ............................................................................... (Name of suburb or rural locality (if any) ............................................................................... (Name of city, town or county) (B) IF THIS ADDRESS IS IN A CITY, BOROUGH, COMMUNITY, OR TOWN DISTRICT, OR IN THE HEATHCOTE OR WAIMAIRI COUNTY, TICK BOX: [ ] IF NOT, SPECIFY:(i) Name of nearest Post Office:......................... (ii) Distance from dwelling to nearest Post Office by usual route: .................................kilometres OR ....................................................miles Allowable Values (with year of current classification used): Meshblock (81) Area Unit (81) Local Authority (81) Urban Area (81) Local Government Region (81) Statistical Division (81) Statistical Area (81) A number of other administrative and user defined boundaries are available. |
| Means of Travel to Work | Main means of travel to work is the main way that employed people travelled to their place of work which they considered their 'main' job. This applied to all usually resident people aged 15 years and over. The data for this variable is from Question 22 on the personal questionnaire: 22. MAIN MEANS OF TRAVEL TO WORK (*): TICK BOX WHICH APPLIES: > Public bus > Train > Passenger in car, truck, van, or firm's bus > Drive car, truck, or van > Motor cycle, power cycle > Bicycle > Walk > Other means > Work at home > Not applicable |
| Cigarette Smoking | This question asked usually resident people aged 15 years and over their current cigarette smoking practice and number of cigarettes they smoked per day. The data for this variable was asked in question 13 of the personal questionnaire. 13. CIGARETTE SMOKING: TICK THE BOX WHICH BEST DESCRIBES YOUR CURRENT CIGARETTE SMOKING: > Never smoked cigarettes at all, or never smoked them regularly > Do not smoke cigarettes now, but used to smoke them regularly (1 or more per day) > Currently smoke cigarettes regularly (1 or more per day) --> Specify number smoked yesterday:................................. cigarettes (if none write '0') Allowable values: Smoking Practice: Never smoked Used to smoke Smoke regularly Not Specified Number of Cigarettes Smoked: These are collected in single numbers ranging from '0' to '97 and Over', not applicable, and not specified. Information on the number of "current smokers" and "ex-smokers" in the population, and the number of cigarettes smoked by people who smoke, is of great interest to organisations and individuals working in the health sector. Interest in smoking levels in NZ stems from its impact on health as smoking is known to cause a wide range of major health problems. The question on cigarette smoking was first asked in the 1976 Census, this 1981 Census and again in the 1996 Census. |
Changes in Output Variables over time
Guide to Interpreting Data
Summary of Changes to Survey/Output ..The following table gives details of the dates of New Zealand Censuses of Population and Dwellings, together with the intercensal periods.
Date of Census Period Since Previous Census
(Years)
November-December 1851 -
Friday 24 December 1858 1.75 (Period since incomplete enumeration of
March 1857)
Monday 16 December 1861 2.98
Thursday 1 December 1864 2.96
Thursday 19 December 1867 3.05
Monday 27 February 1871 3.19
Sunday 1 March 1874 3.01
Sunday 3 March 1878 4.01
Sunday 3 April 1881 3.09
Sunday 28 March 1886 4.98
Sunday 5 April 1891 5.02
Sunday 12 April 1896 5.02
Sunday 31 March 1901 4.97
Sunday 29 April 1906 5.08
Sunday 2 April 1911 4.93
Sunday 15 October 1916 5.54
Sunday 17 April 1921 4.50
Tuesday 20 April 1926 5.01
Tuesday 24 March 1936 9.93
Tuesday 25 September 1945 9.51
Tuesday 17 April 1951 5.56
Tuesday 17 April 1956 5.00
Tuesday 18 April 1961 5.00
Tuesday 22 March 1966 4.93
Tuesday 23 March 1971 5.00
Tuesday 23 March 1976 5.00
Tuesday 24 March 1981 5.00
Tuesday 4 March 1986 4.94
Tuesday 5 March 1991 5.00
Tuesday 5 March 1996 5.00
A Census Act was passed in 1858 which repealed the 1851 Ordinance and instituted three-yearly General Censuses. The first census conducted under this legislation took place in December 1858 and the series continued up to and including the Census of 1874. The abolition of the provinces in 1876 made new legislation necessary, and a Census Act passed in 1877 provided for general censuses to be taken in 1878, 1881, and every fifth year from then on. The 1931 Census was abandoned under direction of the Census Postponement Act 1931 because of the depressed state of the economy, and the census due to be taken in 1941 (during the Second World War) was postponed until 1945, the census due in 1946 being abandoned.
It had become customary to hold the census in the autumn but in 1945 this sequence was broken. The government of the day was anxious to introduce legislation abolishing the “country quota” which had existed previously. Under this system a loading of 20 percent was added to rural populations which meant that there were more country electorates, in relation to population, than urban. Government wished to have the redefinition of electorates available in time for the election in 1946, and so advanced the date of the census to September 1945.
Usage and Limitations of the Data ..In 1981 there were no issues which had a significant impact on data quality.
Related Data Sources ..Ä number of SNZ surveys have similar or related data to the Census. These include: demographic projections, Household Labour Force Survey, Births, Deaths, and economic surveys.
Sampling Errors ..Not applicable to Census
Non-sampling errors Non-sampling errors in the survey data may result from problems with the questionnaire, respondent error, mistakes made during processing and non-response imputation. The department adopts procedures to detect and minimise these types of errors but they may still occur and they are not easily quantifiable.
Some aspects of questionnaire design may have impacted on the quality of responses. For example, the question on ethnicity may have been difficult for respondents to answer as it asked for fractions of ethnicity. Also, a question was included which asked adults about the number of children they had but specified that adopted children were not to be included. This generated a lot of correspondence; and a significant level of non-response was noted for this question, possibly attributable to the nature of the question itself. This question was dropped for the following Census.
There were no issues with the enumeration and processing phases which would have significantly impacted on the quality of the data.
Caveats on Release ..All data that is released must be consistent with Statistics New Zealand's confidentiality rules (see above).
- Refer to SNZ client services for advice on cost and availability
Catalogue & Reference Numbers
Household Growth
Households Headed by Married Men
Changing Numbers of Occupiers, 1976-1981
Factors Affecting Househod Growth
Persons Living in Families
One-Parent Families, 1976-1981
Rates of Remarriage, 1971-1981
Married Population, 15-29 Years, 1971-1981
Married Couple-Only Households, 1966-1981
Husband-and-Wife-Only Households
Live Births to Married Women, 1951-1981
Older Children in Families
Family Income
Working Mothers, 1981
Persons in De Facto Marriages
Marital Status of De Facto Couples
Persons in Non-Family Households, 1981
Growth in Non-Family Households
Persons in Non-Family Households, 1976-1981
Numbers in Non-Family Households, 1981
Persons Alone on Census Night, 1966-1981
Not Married Persons Living Alone, 1966-1981
Elderly Persons Living Alone, 1981
Persons Usually Living Alone, 1981
Growth of the Labour Force
Components of Labour Force Growth
Natural Increase of 15-19 Year Olds
Migrants in the Labour Force
Full-Time Participation Rates of 15-19 Year Olds
Studentship Rates
Participation Rates of 35-44 Year Olds
Participation Rates of 55-64 Year Olds
Labour Force Ratio of Females to Males
Median Age of the Labour Force
Female Labour Force: Marital Status
Changes in Married Female Labour Force
Participation Rates of Married Women
Industrial Structure of the Labour Force
Distribution of the Labour Force
Employment in Two Industrial Divisions
Employment in Community Services, 1971-1981
Estimated Population Aged 5-14 Years
Masculinity of the Labour Force
Distribution of the Labour Force
Male-Female Occupational Differences
Median Age by Occupation
Married Women in Clerical Occupations
Men and Women Aged 25-34 Years
Percentage of Women by Age Group
Males Under 20 Years
Distribution of Men and Women Aged 55-64
Annual Median Incomes by Occupation
Annual Median Incomes by Age Group
Median Incomes Compared by Occupation
Occupational Effect on Median Incomes
Age Effect on Female Median Incomes
The Effects of Changing Age Distribution
Occupations of Married Women
Median Incomes of Women
Persons in Full-time and Part-time Work
Composition of the Part-time Labour Force
Number of People Working Part-time
Likelihood of Working Part-time, 1971-1981
Participation Rates by Marital Status
Female Participation Rates by Age of Youngest Child
Part-time Workers by Occupation
Occupation of Part-time Workers by Age
Unemployment, 1896-1981
Registered Unemployed, 1971-1981
Age-Sex Distribution of Labour Force
Age Composition of Ethnic Groups
Age Distribution of the Unemployed, 1961-1981
Unemployment Among Ethnic Groups
Rural and Urban Unemployment, 1981
Northern North Island Unemployment
Southern North Island Unemployment
South Island Unemployment
Regional Unemployment, 1981
Marital Status of Employed and Unemployed
Unemployment of Ex-Seventh Formers, 1981
Living Arrangements of Unemployed Persons
Highest Educational Level of the Unemployed
School Attendance and Unemployment
Non-benefit Income Distribution
Social Welfare Benefits, 1981
Maori and Non-Maori Fertility Declines
Population of Half or More Maori Descent
Maori Descent Children by Parents' Descent
Fertility, 1981
Rural-Urban Distribution, 1981
Residential Dissimilarity Index
Secondary School Attendance, 1981
School Qualifications, 1981
Age-Specific Fertility, 1981
Occupational Concentration, 1981
Never Married Population, 1971-1981
Population Married, 1971-1981
Separated and Divorced Population, 1971-1981
Widowed, 1971-1981
One-Parent Households, 1981
One-Person Households, 1981
Types of Dwellings
Floor Area of New Houses, 1971-1978
Rooms in Private Dwellings, 1961-1981
Room-Space per Person, 1961-1981
Occupancy Variations, 1981
Occupants of Private Dwellings, 1961-1981
Household Formation Rates, 1966-1981
Occupancy and 'Crowding', 1961-1981
Crowding and Ethnicity, 1976-1981
Average Household Size, 1981
Tenure and Marital Status, 1981
Home Ownership and Income, 1981
Household Income and Ethnicity, 1981
Home Ownership Amongst Men, 1976-1981
Home Ownership and Marriage, 1976-1981
Home Ownership and Women, 1981
Total Household Income, 1981
Female-occupier Households, 1971-1981
Home Ownership Amongst Women, 1976-1981
Major Tenure and Landlord Groups, 1981
Median Rents by Landlord Type, 1981
Housing Corporation Tenants, 1981
Age of Housing Corporation Tenants
Rents Paid to Private Landlords, 1981
Furnished Rental Accomodation, 1971-1981
Characteristics of Private Renters, 1981
Tenure and Landlord Characteristics, 1981
Relative Rents for Male Renters, 1981
Relative Rents for Female Renters, 1981
Relative Rents and Landlords, 1981
Other Comments
Classification(s) used
Glossary of Terms
| Term | Description |
| Absentee | An absentee is a person who is temporarily absent from a dwelling at the time of the census and whom the reference person of the dwelling considers to be a usually resident household member. Included are children away at boarding school, people away on business, on holiday and in hospital but excluded are long-term hospital patients and tertiary students who live away from the dwelling for most of the year. Details collected about absentees are name, age, sex, how long the absentee has been away, whether they are in New Zealand on census night and their relationship to the reference person. |
| Access to a Motor Vehicle | Access to a motor vehicle refers to the number of motor vehicles the usual residents of a private dwelling have available for their use. They must be mechanically operational, but do not need to be licensed or have a current warrant of fitness. Excluded are motor bikes and scooters, vehicles belonging to visitors, vehicles that the household borrows occasionally from another household and vehicles that can only be used for work. |
| Amenities | Refers to amenities present in a dwelling, whether or not they are in regular use. The items included in 1981 were telephones, electric clothes dryers, fully automatic clothes washing machines, other clothes washing machines, colour television, black and white television, deep freeze 56 litres or greater, none of the above. |
| Activities | Activities refer to unpaid work and includes household work, child care or care of the elderly, ill or disabled, training or coaching, community work, fund-raising etc. |
| Age | Age is the number of whole years between birth and the 'data collection date'. In the 1981 census, the day, month and year of birth were required to be stated on the individual form and used to derive age (the age was also entered on the dwelling form by the reference person and was used as a validation). |
| Age Imputation | In the 1981 Census of Population and Dwellings age was imputed for all people who did not specify a date of birth using automated procedures. Various personal details and details pertaining to other people in the dwelling were used to set a lower and an upper bound on the age to be imputed. The age was then randomly selected from a probability distribution that corresponded to an age between these bounds. |
| Age Structure | The age structure of a population is the distribution of the population by age. |
| Area | Refers to surface area and is expressed in terms of either square kilometres (1 sq. km = 0.3861 sq. miles) or hectares (1 hectare = 2.471 acres). Figures are based on the official surface areas of regions, territorial authorities, statistical areas, and urban areas prevailing at the census date, as calculated by Land Information New Zealand. Unless specifically stated they include any water areas located within territorial authority boundaries. |
| Area of Usual Residence | Area of usual residence refers to the geographic area in which a person usually lives. New Zealand residents temporarily out of the country at the time of the census are excluded from statistics produced on this basis because they were not required to complete a census form. The smallest geographic unit to which data is coded by Statistics New Zealand is the meshblock. |
| Area Unit | Area units are aggregations of meshblocks. They are non-administrative areas intermediate between meshblocks and territorial authorities. Area units must either define or aggregate to define, urban areas, rural areas, statistical areas, territorial authorities and regional councils. The maximum total population of an area unit is approximately 5,000. Each area unit must be a single geographic entity with a unique name referring to a geographical feature within the area. |
| Available for Work | The term “available for work” means that people who were unemployed must have been able to start work during the week prior to the census, had a job been offered to them. |
| Baby Boom | Generally refers to the large generation of people born in New Zealand between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s. It is usually taken to be those born in the years 1946-65, although a number of other definitions are used in the literature. |
| Bedroom | A bedroom is a room used for sleeping and includes rooms furnished as a bedroom and sleepouts or caravans which are used as bedrooms. If the only bedroom facilities in a dwelling are in a room that is used for another purpose, for example, in a bed-sitting room, then this room is counted as a bedroom. A room such as a living room that is used as someone's bedroom at night, either long-term or short-term, should not be counted as a bedroom unless the only bedroom facilities in the dwelling are in that room. |
| Birth Rate | Refers to the number of births per 1,000 mean population. |
| Census Night Address | This refers to the address of the respondent on census night. Addresses are not recorded in any permanent dataset. They are used during the actual processing of a form for the sole purpose of establishing the meshblock location. On completion of this processing, addresses (along with associated personal names) are not retained. |
| Child | In terms of family data: A child is a person of any age who usually resides with at least one person who is in a parental role (natural, step, adopted, or foster) to him or her and who does not usually reside with a partner or child (or children) of their own. In terms of population: a child is defined as any person less than 15 years of age when enumerated. |
| Cigarette Smoking Behaviour | Cigarette smoking refers to the active smoking of any tobacco products including manufactured and hand rolled cigarettes, and home grown tobacco. Excluded are cigars, pipe tobacco, cigarillos and the smoking of other substances, for example, herbal cigarettes or marijuana. Smoking refers to active smoking behaviour, the intentional inhalation of tobacco smoke by a smoker. Smoking does not refer to or include passive smoking, the unintentional inhalation by non-smokers of tobacco smoke introduced into the atmosphere by smokers. Excluded is the consumption of tobacco products by other means such as chewing. |
| City | A city is a territorial authority area which must have a minimum population of 50,000, be predominately urban in character, be a distinct entity and a major centre of activity within its parent region. Note: this is distinct from "main, secondary or minor urban area" |
| Community | A community consists of an area within a district under the jurisdiction of a Community Board. It must have a population of at least 200 with an average density of approximately 2.5 people per hectare (or at least one person per acre). Alternatively, there must be at least one dwelling to 1.2 hectares (one dwelling to three acres). Although possessing some autonomy, a community is still the responsibility of the parent territorial authority (District or City Council). |
| Components of Population Change | The components of change in a population are: natural increase (the net difference between the number of births and the number of deaths) and net external migration (the net difference between the number of emigrants and the number of immigrants) |
| Consensual Union | A consensual union exists if two people are usually resident in the same dwelling and share mutual concern for each other; have a degree of economic, social and emotional interdependence; and consider their relationship to be akin to marriage. |
| Country of Birth | The term country of birth refers to the country where the respondent was born. The term country is defined to include: independent countries recognised by the New Zealand Government; overseas dependencies, external territories of independent countries; and units which are recognised geographic areas. A country, even if it comprises other discrete political entities such as states, is treated as a single unit for all classification purposes. The classification also takes account of entities, such as "born at sea" and "passengers effects", which are not countries but which require the identification of a country for specific surveys. |
| Couple | A couple consists of two people who usually reside together and are either legally married or in a consensual union. There are three types of couples: opposite-sex couple, male couple and female couple. In 1981, same sex couples were not coded. |
| De Facto Marriage | A de facto marriage exists if two people consider themselves to be in a consensual union with each other. |
| De Facto Population | The 'de facto' population is “the population enumerated according to its actual place of residence at a given time”. Visitors from overseas, who were in New Zealand on census night, are included in the de facto population. Thus the de facto population is different from the usually resident population, which refers to enumerated people who usually live in New Zealand. Similarly, the de facto population of a subnational area refers to those people who were in the region on census night, whether or not they usually lived in that area, in another part of New Zealand, or overseas. |
| Digital Cadastral Database | The DCDB, compiled by Land Information New Zealand, contains the geographic location, shape, area, land appellation and street address of all legal land parcels in New Zealand. The DCDB also includes meshblock boundaries, aligned to the cadastral pattern. |
| District | Refers to a territorial authority that is neither wholly urban nor wholly rural and which is under the jurisdiction of a District Council. |
| Duration of Residence in New Zealand | Duration of residence in New Zealand is the length of time in completed years, ignoring any intervening absences, whether temporary or long-term, that a respondent who was born outside of New Zealand has lived in New Zealand as a permanent or long-term resident. Duration of residence in New Zealand is derived from year of arrival in New Zealand by measuring the time elapsed (in completed years) between arrival in New Zealand and the day of data collection. |
| Dwelling | A dwelling is any building or structure, or part thereof, that is used (or intended to be used) for the purpose of human habitation. At the highest level, dwellings are classified as private or non-private. A private dwelling accommodates a person or a group of people, but is not available to the public. It is described as permanent or temporary and by its actual type ie. whether the dwelling is attached to another dwelling or the number of storeys in the building. Permanent private dwellings are fixed in location, of durable construction and occupied by a private household. Private dwelling types are: separate house; two flats or houses joined together; three or more flats or houses joined together; flat or house joined to a business or shop; and bach, crib or hut (not in a work camp). A temporary private dwelling is temporary or mobile and occupied by a private household, categorised as: caravan; cabin or tent in a motor camp; and other (eg. yacht). All other dwellings are non-private and are available to the public. They may be available for use either generally, or by virtue of occupation or study, special need, or legal requirement. Such dwellings may have facilities (such as a dining room) that are for shared use. These dwellings include: hotels and motels; guest houses and boarding houses; hostels; public and private hospitals; homes for the elderly; educational, welfare, religious and charitable institutions; prisons and penal institutions; defence establishments; work camps, staff quarters and seasonal quarters; motor camps; and other communal dwellings. If this type of accommodation includes units that are designed for the exclusive use (temporarily) by one or more people, the units are considered to be part of the non-private dwelling and not separate non-private dwellings. Private residences that are attached to non-private dwellings are, however, considered to be separate private dwellings. |
| Dwelling Address | Dwelling address consists of the distinguishing details of the physical location of a dwelling for the purposes of the data collection and can include street number, name, and type; suburb or rural locality; and city, town or district. |
| Dwelling Status | Dwelling status classifies dwellings according to whether they are occupied, unoccupied and why they are unoccupied, or under construction on the day of the data collection. |
| Economic Family | An economic family is a person who is financially independent or a group of people who usually reside together and are financially interdependent according to current social norms. |
| Electoral Boundaries | The Electoral Representation Commission is responsible for defining the boundaries of electorates. |
| Electoral Districts | There are General and Mäori electoral districts constituted in terms of the Electoral Act after each population census. |
| Employed Full-time | Full-time work is defined as 30 hours or more of work per week. (In 1981 full-time work referred to a total of 20 hours or more per week) |
| Employed Part-time | Part-time work is defined as less than 30 hours of work per week. (In 1981 part-time work was less than a total of 20 hours per week). |
| Ethnic Origin | Ethnic origin is the ethnic origin(s) that people state that they have. In 1981, people were asked to not only identify their ethnic origin(s) but also assess the fractional distributions of their origin. Up to three races were recorded for each individual with an indication of what fraction each response represented. This is essentially a question on race or biological descent and differs markedly in concept from ethnic group of 1991 and ethnicity of 1996 and later. It also differs in detail from ethnic origin of 1986, though is comparable with that data. |
| Familial Relationship | A familial relationship is a relationship in which a person is related to another household member by blood, marriage (registered or de facto) or adoption. |
| Family | A family is defined as a husband and wife with or without never married children of any age or a lone parent with one or more never married children, living in a private household. It is important to note that families are only coded from those people who are present in the dwelling or stated to be absent - they do not include family members who usually live in a different household. |
| Family Type | Family type is the variable that classifies family nuclei according to the presence or absence of couples, parents and children. |
| Fertility | The number of children ever born alive to each female resident in New Zealand, aged fifteen years or over, at the time of the data collection. Foetal deaths and stillborn children are excluded, as are stepchildren, adopted children, foster children and wards of state. There is a statutory right for a respondent to object to providing this information if desired. |
| Foster Child | A foster child is a person who receives parental care from a person(s) other than the child's natural, step or adopted parent(s) or guardian(s). A foster child can be related to his or her foster parent(s). |
| Highest School Qualification | Highest school qualification is concerned with determining the single highest school qualification gained and is collected for people aged 15 years and over. |
| Hours of Unpaid Work | Refers to the number of hours spent on unpaid work outside the home, for people who do not live in the same household as the respondent, during the last four weeks prior to Census. |
| Hours Worked | Hours worked is the total number of hours usually worked per week in employment, for people who are employed in the labour force. The definition of employed is all people aged 15 years and over in employment for pay, profit or payment in kind, or those people who worked unpaid in a family business. Hours worked excludes unpaid work other than work performed in a family business and unpaid overtime. In the census hours worked in main job and hours worked in other jobs are counted. |
| Household | A household is either one person who usually resides alone or two or more people who usually reside together in a private dwelling and share facilities (such as eating facilities, cooking facilities, bathroom and toilet facilities, a living area). In terms of the census, the terms private dwelling and household are synonymous and are used interchangeably. |
| Household Characteristics | A general term referring to the nature of a household including: number of usual household members, household composition, number of children in the household by age, and household income. |
| Household Composition | Household composition is the variable that classifies households according to the relationships between people in the household. |
| Household Income | Household Income is defined as the total income, including income support, before tax that members of the household aged 15 years and over received from all sources for the 12 months ending 31 March 1981. |
| Income | Defined as the total income, including income support, before tax, that a person aged 15 years or over receives from all sources for the financial year ending 31 March 1981. This includes income from: wages, salary, commissions, bonuses paid by employer, self-employment, or business(es) you own and work in, interest, dividends, rent, other investments, ACC regular payments, New Zealand Superannuation, pensions, annuities, Unemployment Benefit, Sickness Benefit, Invalids Benefit, Student Allowance, other government benefits, government income support payments, or war pensions. In 1981 there were two questions - one collected information on income from social security benefits, the other collected income from all other sources. |
| Industry | Industry is the type of activity undertaken by the organisation, enterprise, business or unit of economic activity within which a person is employed. An industry classification identifies groupings of businesses which carry out similar economic activities. Any individual business can be assigned an appropriate industry category on the basis of its predominant activity, which is the main income producing activity of a business. |
| Inland Water Meshblocks | Inland water meshblocks are meshblocks containing lakes or rivers where the meshblock is water only. Inland waters are included in territorial authorities, regions (with the exception of the Chatham Islands) and “geographic New Zealand”. |
| Inlet Meshblocks | Inlet meshblocks contain inlets, bays, coastal harbours, ports, lagoons or estuaries where the meshblock is water only. Inlets and harbours are included in territorial authorities with the exception of the harbours of Kaipara, Waitemata, Manukau and Wellington. |
| Inlets and Harbours, Oceanic Waters and Islands | Statistics New Zealand has traditionally described people outside territorial authority boundaries as either on “Extra County Islands” or “Shipboard”. Previously, meshblocks were allocated for specific ports and harbour areas (known as “shipping meshblocks”), but did not permit full coverage of the New Zealand coastline. Such meshblocks did not have defined seaward boundaries. The term “shipping meshblocks” has been replaced by “inlet” and “oceanic” meshblocks. In general populated “islands” are assigned to their own meshblocks. These new meshblocks have definite boundaries. |
| Inter-Ethnic Mobility | A measure of the net loss or gain to an ethnic group due to people changing the ethnicity/ies with which they identify between censuses. |
| Internal Migrants | This term refers to all people aged five years and over who had changed their usual (permanent) address and had moved between subject areas within New Zealand during the intercensal period, 23 March 1976 - 24 March 1981. These people are required to have specified a New Zealand residential address for both of these dates. |
| Internal Migration | Internal migration is the movement of population within the national boundaries of a country, resulting from changes of usual residence. Internal migration relates to people usually resident in New Zealand aged five years or more at the 1981 Census who were not living in the same subject area five years prior to the census. Excluded are people who did not specify a usual New Zealand address for census night 1981 or five years earlier (1976) and were classified as having “No Fixed Abode”, or had an “Overseas” or “Not Specified New Zealand” address. In 1981 address one year previous (1980) was also asked. |
| Island Meshblocks | Island meshblocks contain offshore islands that are not linked to a mainland meshblock. The majority of islands, or group of islands, have now been meshblocked in an effort to separate land from water. Most islands are located within the seaward boundary of a territorial authority and a region. However, there are some exceptions: Mayor, Motiti, White, Moutohora, Campbell, Kermadec, Auckland and Three Kings Islands are not part of territorial authorities. The Kermadec, Chatham, Campbell and Three Kings Islands are not part of a region. All of the islands listed as not being part of a territorial authority or region are part of “geographic New Zealand”. |
| Job Search Methods | Refers to the methods used to look for paid work in the four weeks prior to the Census. |
| Labour Force | The labour force consists of people aged 15 years and over who regularly work for one or more hours per week for financial gain, or as an unpaid worker in a family business together with people who are unemployed and actively seeking full-time or part-time work. This differs from the "work force" in that the "labour force" includes this latter group. |
| Labour Force Participation Rate | The percentage of the population aged 15 years or over who are in the labour force. |
| Labour Force Status | Labour force status is the position of all people aged 15 years and over in relation to the labour market, such as employed, unemployed and not in the labour force. |
| Landlord Category | Refers to the type of organisation or person from whom households rent or lease occupied private dwellings. Included are; a person or a private trust; a territorial authority or City Council; Housing New Zealand; other state-owned enterprise or government department or corporation or ministry; and business or other organisation. |
| Life Expectancy | A measure of the number of years of life remaining, on average, at a particular age. This term, when used without a specified age, refers to life expectancy at birth and refers to the number of years of life, on average, that a person born in a particular year may expect to live. The measure of life expectancy is based on contemporary mortality trends. |
| Living Arrangements | A person's living arrangements are the person's marital, familial, and non-familial relationships, to all the people with whom he or she usually resides. Response categories are: legal husband or wife; partner or de facto, girlfriend or boyfriend; mother; father; sons(s); daughter(s); sister(s); brother(s); other persons (such as flatmates); none of these. |
| Main Means of Travel to Work | Refers to the one main means of travel to work (that is, the means used to travel the longest distance), on Census day. All people aged 15 years and over gainfully employed in the labour force are required to complete the question. Statistics on travel to work relate to travel from a person's area of usual residence to their workplace. |
| Main Urban Areas | These are very large non-administrative centres which are urban in character and consist of part of a city or parts of cities and/or part of a district or parts of districts. Main urban areas have a minimum population of 30,000. |
| Maps | Maps which show the boundaries of the various areas for which statistics have been derived from the 1981 Population Census can be purchased as sets from any office of Statistics New Zealand. These include an urban series covering the area units of main and secondary urban areas and a regional series which also show rural area units. |
| Marital Status | Marital status is a person's status with respect to the marriage laws or customs of the country. There are two types of marital status: legal marital status and social marital status. Legal marital status is a person's status with respect to registered marriage. A person's legal marital status can be legally married for the first time, remarried, separated, divorced, widowed, or never married. Social marital status is a person's status with respect to consensual union. People who are in a consensual union are partnered; people who are not in a consensual union are non-partnered. |
| Means of Cooking in a Dwelling | Means of cooking in a dwelling refers to the types of fuel or energy used for cooking in a dwelling. |
| Means of Heating Dwelling | Refers to the types of fuel or energy used to heat a dwelling. |
| Means of Water Heating in a Dwelling | Means of water heating in the dwelling refers to the types of fuel or energy used for water heating in a dwelling. |
| Meshblocks | The meshblock is the smallest geographic area used by Statistics New Zealand in the collection and/or processing of data. The meshblock is thus the building block for aggregation into larger areas such as area units, territorial authorities and regional councils. Meshblocks vary in both population and area size - from an extensive tract of sparsely populated rural land to a city block. When the New Zealand wide system of standard meshblocks was established in 1976, meshblocks in urban areas generally contained an average of 150-200 people while rural meshblocks generally had fewer, 100-150 on average. Subsequent division of meshblocks and changes in population patterns have resulted in meshblock population counts having a considerable range. At the 1981 Census there were 33,441 meshblocks. |
| Minor Urban Areas | These are small to medium sized non-administrative centres which comprise part of a district, are regarded as urban in character and have populations ranging between 1,000 and 9,999. |
| Mortality Rate | The number of deaths which occur, normally expressed in terms of deaths per 1,000 people in an age group or population. |
| Motor Vehicles | Motor vehicles refers to cars, station wagons, vans, trucks, utility vehicles, four-wheel drive vehicles and other vehicles used on public roads, but excludes caravans, motorcycles, scooters, vehicles used only for business and farm vehicles such as tractors. Included are vehicles which are privately owned, hired, borrowed, leased or supplied by an employer, and vehicles that are temporarily under repair. Business vehicles if available for private use are also included. |
| Natural Increase | Natural increase refers to the net increase (or decrease) in a population resulting from the difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths. |
| Nature of Occupancy | A general term referring to the topics of dwelling tenure and category of landlord. |
| Net External Migration | The number of arrivals into a country, less the number of departures from a country. When there are more arrivals than departures it is known as net immigration, and when there are more departures than arrivals it is net emigration. |
| New Zealand | The term relates solely to “geographic New Zealand” and includes the Kermadec, Campbell and Three Kings Islands and the Ross Dependency, but excludes the Tokelau Islands. |
| Never Married | A person who has never entered into a registered marriage. |
| Non-Familial Relationship | A non-familial relationship is a relationship in which a person is not related to another household member by blood, marriage (registered or de facto) or adoption. |
| Non-Private Dwelling | Non-private dwellings are dwellings which are available to the public. They may be available for use either generally, or by virtue of occupation or study, special need, or legal requirement. Such dwellings may have facilities (such as a dining room) that are for shared use. Non-private dwellings include: hotels and motels; guest houses and boarding houses; hostels; public and private hospitals; homes for the elderly; educational, welfare, religious and charitable institutions; prisons and penal institutions; defence establishments; work camps, staff quarters and seasonal quarters; motor camps; and other communal dwellings. If this type of accommodation includes units that are designed for the exclusive use (temporarily) by one or more people, the units are considered to be part of the non-private dwelling and not separate non-private dwellings. Private residences that are attached to non-private dwellings are, however, considered to be separate private dwellings. |
| Not Applicable | This category is used for those responses or categories which are positively identified (the meaning and the intent are clear) but which fall outside the scope of the classification/topic. |
| Not Elsewhere Classified | This is a residual category used for valid responses for which no appropriate specific (sub-)category exists within the classification. This term used in both flat and hierarchical classifications. |
| Not Further Defined | This is used in hierarchical classifications for responses containing insufficient detail to be classified to the most detailed level of a classification, but which can be classified to a less detailed category further up the hierarchy. |
| Not Specified | This category is only used where a respondent has not given any response to the question asked. Not specified does not apply to variables, such as labour force status, sex or age, for which values are always either present or imputed. |
| Number of Adult Children | This is a count of adult children (see definition above) and can be counted for adult children usually resident in the dwelling or in a family. |
| Number of Children | This is a count of children included in a specified unit or group - for example this could be a count of children under 15 years usually resident in the dwelling or a count of children in a family. |
| Number of Dependent Children | This is a count of dependent children included in a specified unit or group - most frequently this applies to the number of dependent children in a family. |
| Number of Inmates or Guest Occupants | For non-private dwellings. Refers to the number of people who are inmates in prisons, penal institutions or police lock-ups and stations, or the number of people who are residents or guests in hospitals, hotels, motel complexes, private hotels, guest houses, boarding houses, rooming houses, motor camps and the like (for example, shearing quarters, work camps) on census night. |
| Number of Occupants | The number of people residing in a dwelling on census night. Compare the "number of usual household members" below. |
| Number of Rooms | The question on Number of Rooms requires two responses, firstly, the number of bedrooms and secondly, the number of rooms in the dwelling including bedrooms. “Bedrooms” include any rooms furnished as bedrooms and any sleepout or caravan which is used as a bedroom. If the only bedroom facilities in the dwelling are in a room that is used for another purpose, as, for example, in a bed-sitting room, this room is considered to be a bedroom. However, a room such as a living room that is used as someone's bedroom at night, either short-term or long term, is not a bedroom unless the ONLY bedroom facilities in the dwelling are in that room. “Rooms” includes bedrooms, kitchens, lounge or living rooms, dining rooms, rumpus rooms, family rooms, conservatories, studies, hobby rooms and so on; but excludes pantries, bathrooms, laundries, separate shower rooms, separate toilets, entrance halls, hallways, garages and workshops. |
| Number of Usual Household Members | The number of people who usually live in a dwelling. Number of usual household members count people who were home on census night and absentees |
| Occupation | An occupation is defined as a set of jobs which involve the performance of a common set of tasks. A job is a set of tasks performed or designed to be performed by one individual. Two jobs are similar if they require the performance of a similar set of tasks, that is, if they involve the same type of work. Occupation is the job, trade, profession or type of work in which a person is employed for financial reward or as an unpaid worker in a family business. Occupation is classified according to the New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupation 1968 (NZSCO68). This is a skills-based occupation classification applicable to New Zealand labour force conditions. It groups occupations together by a similar skill requirement rather than by a similarity of the type of work performed, thus each major group has a skill level equivalent to a formal qualification or on the job training, for example, major group 2, the professionals group, usually requires an university degree. |
| Oceanic Meshblocks | These meshblocks include the area from the mean high water/mean low water springs (depending on the territorial authority) to the extent of the two hundred mile economic zone, excluding inlet meshblocks and island meshblocks. Oceanic meshblocks are included in regions to the extent of the twelve mile territorial limit. |
| Occupied Dwelling | A dwelling is defined as occupied if it is: occupied at midnight on the night of the data collection; or occupied at any time during the twelve hours following midnight on the night of the data collection unless the occupant(s) completed a questionnaire at another dwelling during this period. |
| Occupier/Reference Person | In private dwellings, the occupier/reference person can be any responsible person and refers to the person who completed the census dwelling questionnaire. Therefore, in private dwellings, the occupier/reference person could be the person (or the partner of the person) who: owns the household accommodation; or is legally responsible for the rent of the accommodation; or has the private accommodation by virtue of his or her employment; or has the private accommodation by virtue of some relationship to an owner who is not usually resident; or any other responsible person. In non-private dwellings, the occupier/reference person is, for the Population Census purposes, the owner, manager, or person who is in charge on census night. If two or more people have equal claim to be the occupier/reference person, the person whose birthday comes first in the year is chosen. In practice, the occupier/reference person is the person who completed the dwelling questionnaire. No attempt was made to reassign this role to any other person in the household. |
| Overseas Visitor Population | The overseas visitor population is defined as those people whose usual residence is overseas, but excludes those people whose usual residence is overseas and who are: working in New Zealand; looking for work in New Zealand; non-New Zealand diplomats or members of their staff; members of non-New Zealand armed forces stationed in New Zealand. |
| Parent Role | A parent role is the role of a person who usually resides with his or her natural, step, adopted, or foster child (or children). A parent role can also be assigned to a person who provides care for dependent children but is not a biological or adoptive parent. A guardian is regarded as a person who is in a parent role. |
| Partner | A partner is a person to whom another person is legally married or with whom a consensual union exists. |
| Permanent Dwelling | Refers to any dwelling that is both fixed in location and of durable construction. Permanent dwellings include houses, flats, baches, hotels and hospitals, but exclude temporary dwellings such as tents, houseboats or caravans. |
| Place of Usual Residence | This refers to the usual place of residence of people irrespective of their place of enumeration on census night. The categories derived for this topic are: same as census night address; elsewhere in New Zealand; overseas; no fixed abode; New Zealand not further defined; overseas not further defined. |
| Population Projections | Population Projections are future population scenarios based on assumptions made about future age-specific birthrates, mortality and net migration. In the case of ethnic projections assumptions are made about inter-ethnic mobility, and for subnational projections about internal migration. Projections indicate changes in population size and structure that will occur if the stated assumptions were to apply over the projection period. They are not exact forecasts. |
| Population Resident in New Zealand | This subject population consists of all enumerated people who usually reside in New Zealand and excludes people who usually reside overseas. |
| Population Usually Resident in Area | Refers to the population that usually resides in a given subject area. The basis of this population is the population resident in the area on census night who were at home on census night, plus residents enumerated elsewhere in New Zealand on census night whose usual residence is in the subject area. Temporary residents who usually reside elsewhere in New Zealand or overseas, are excluded. A person must have resided, or planned to reside in an area for three months or more to be counted as a usual resident. The exceptions are primary and secondary school pupils who board away from home but who return home at the end of each term. They are required to state their usual home address. |
| Post School Qualifications | A post school qualification is a qualification other than a secondary school qualification such as a trade certificate, a diploma or degree, etc. |
| Private Dwelling | A private dwelling is any dwelling which is occupied by a private household. It accommodates a person or a group of people, but is not available to the public. It is described as permanent or temporary and by it's actual type ie. whether the dwelling is attached to another dwelling or the number of storeys in the building. |
| Regional Councils | Regional councils were established in November 1989 by the Local Government Commission. These regional councils (16 in total) cover every territorial authority in New Zealand with the exception of the Chatham Island District. Generally regional councils contain complete territorial authorities. The geographical boundaries of the regions conform as far as practical to the boundaries of one or more water catchments. In determining regions, consideration was also given to regional communities of interest, natural resource management, land use planning, port facilities and environmental matters. |
| Registered Marriage | A registered marriage is one for which a marriage certificate has been signed legalising the marriage of two people of the opposite sex. People who are "legally married" have signed a marriage certificate that is valid at the time of the survey. |
| Related | Related means that people have a familial relationship. In the classifications, "related people" and "other people who are related" are people who have a familial relationship to each other or to the family nucleus or extended family in the household, depending on the category. In a two-family household, families are "related" if at least one person in one family has a familial relationship to at least one person in the other family. Otherwise the families are "unrelated". |
| Relationship to Reference Person | The marital, familial or non-familial relationship of each person in the dwelling (and of those who are temporarily absent) to the reference person (the person who completed the dwelling form in the census). |
| Religious Affiliation | Religious affiliation refers to the self-identified association of an individual with a religion or denomination. There is a statutory right for a respondent to object to providing this information if desired. This data refers to affiliation and does not imply associated practice. |
| Remarried | A person who is currently legally married and has previously been legally married and subsequently divorced or widowed. |
| Rent Paid | Rent paid by a household is the amount specified by the respondent, as payment to the owner of the dwelling for a stated period, from which the weekly rent paid is calculated. It excludes payments for any other goods and services. Some respondents may be "house sitting" in the owner's absence and they may be paying bills on behalf of the owner, but no rent or only a nominal rent. In these circumstances the rent paid is zero or the nominal amount paid. Where households are making separate payments for the rental of the dwelling and the lease of the land on which the dwelling is situated, it is the total amount paid which is required. In many instances ground rent will be paid by the owner of the dwelling and the renting household will be paying an inclusive rental for the land and dwelling to the owner. In these cases they will not be aware of the ground rent payments and will include the total rent which they pay each period. |
| Resident Population | This subject population consists of all enumerated people who usually reside in New Zealand and excludes people who usually reside overseas. |
| Rural Areas | The rural areas of New Zealand are those which are not specifically designated as “urban”. They include rural centres, and district territories where these are not included in main, secondary or minor urban areas, and inlets, islands, inland waters, and oceanic waters which are outside urban areas. |
| Rural Centres | Rural centres have statistical boundaries (being an area unit) but no legal status. They are rural centres with a population of 300 to 999 in a reasonably compact area which service their surrounding rural areas. Examples are Ruatoria, Waitoa and Cust. |
| Secondary Urban Areas | These areas are large non-administrative centres which comprise parts of a district or districts regarded as urban in character and have a population ranging between 10,000 and 29,999. |
| Sector of Landlord | Sector of landlord in household surveys is the institutional unit to which the owners of rented or leased private dwellings belong. |
| Separated | To be separated a person must be permanently living apart from his or her legal husband or wife with or without a legal separation order or agreement. To be permanently living apart, a person must not usually reside with his or her legal husband or wife. |
| Sex | Sex is the biological distinction between males and females. |
| Statistical Areas | These are broad geographic regions which do not conform to any legal or administrative boundaries, nor do they have any pre-determined population size. In addition to regions, statistical areas include islands outside regions that are part of “geographic New Zealand”. |
| Status in Employment | Status in employment describes information on the relationship between workers, their jobs and the economic entities to which they provide their labour. The target population for this question is the employed, that is, all people aged 15 years and over in employment for pay, profit or payment in kind, or those people who worked unpaid in a family business. In cases where the respondent has more than one job, status in employment refers to the respondent's main job only, the job in which the person usually works the greatest number of hours. |
| Stepchild | A stepchild is a child of a person's partner by a previous marriage (registered or de facto). |
| Temporary Absentee | For the purposes of household and family statistics, a person is temporarily absent from a dwelling if he or she is not there at the time of the census and the occupier/reference person in the dwelling considers the person to be a usually resident household member. |
| Temporary Private Dwelling | Refers to a private dwelling that is temporary or mobile and occupied by a private household on census night. Categories are: caravan; cabin or tent in a motor camp; and other (eg. yacht). In order to provide family statistics on people living in temporary accommodation, residents of motorcamps, caravan parks and camping grounds who resided or intended residing there on a permanent basis (that is, had no other address, planned to live in such accommodation or had lived in such accommodation for three months or more) are enumerated as separate private households. Accordingly the category of “Caravan, cabin or tent in a motor camp” is now included in the “Temporary Private Dwelling” category. Short-term guests and visitors in motorcamps continue to be enumerated in the “Non-Private Dwelling” category. |
| Tenure of Dwelling | Tenure of dwelling refers to the nature of occupancy of a private dwelling and does not include the tenure of the land on which the dwelling is situated. This information should be provided by the occupier or reference person of every private dwelling in New Zealand. |
| Territorial Authority | There are 74 territorial authorities in New Zealand, including 15 cities and 59 districts. The boundaries of territorial authorities are defined according to “community of interest” considerations, the relevance of the community components to each other and the ability of the unit to efficiently service its community. |
| Total Fertility Rate | The total fertility rate for a particular year indicates the average number of children a woman would expect to have during her lifetime, were she to be exposed to the age specific fertility rates for that year. The total fertility rate is sometimes used as an indicator of family size. |
| Total Population | The basis of "total population" statistics is the de facto population present at the place of enumeration on census night. Members of the New Zealand armed forces serving overseas are excluded, as well as New Zealand residents who are temporarily out of the country on census night. Visitors from overseas in New Zealand on census night are included in the total population count. |
| Unemployed and Seeking Work | Unemployed and seeking work refers to those people who are not working in a paid job, business, farm or profession at census date, but have actively looked for either full-time or part-time work in the preceding four weeks and would have started work in the week preceding the census had a job been available. “Looking at job advertisements in newspapers” alone is not considered actively looking for work. |
| Unit Record | A unit record represents the electronically formatted details of an individual respondent, excluding the name and address of that respondent. The computer file containing all of the unit records for a particular census is described as the masterfile of that census. |
| Unidentifiable | This category is used when a response is given but it is unclear what the meaning or the intent of the response is. |
| Unoccupied Dwelling | Any dwelling that is unoccupied at all times during the twelve hours following midnight on the night of the census is deemed to be unoccupied. Dwelling Questionnaires are not required to be completed for these dwellings. The numbers of such dwellings are compiled under the following categories: residents away: empty dwelling; and dwelling under construction. |
| Unpaid Work | unpaid work covers activities which are either: performed in the week prior to census for people living in the same household as the respondent; or performed in the last four weeks prior to census for people outside of the respondent's household for which the performance of those activities is not paid. |
| Unrelated | Unrelated means that their is a non-familial relationship. Unrelated people, and other people who are unrelated, are people who have a non-familial relationship to each other or to the family nucleus or extended family in the household, depending on the category. |
| Urban Areas | Non-administrative urban area structure comprises main, secondary and minor urban areas which constitute the urban population of New Zealand. Urban area boundaries are defined with the objective of enabling users to make statistical comparisons over time without the need for major adjustments caused by changes in territorial authority boundaries. This classification also enables users to distinguish between the statistical characteristics of the “urban” and “rural” areas of New Zealand. |
| Usual Residence | A person's usual residence is the address of the dwelling or place where the person considers himself or herself to live. Each respondent can have only one usual residence. A person from another country who has lived, or intends to live, in New Zealand for 12 months or more usually resides at his or her address in New Zealand (as in external migration) not their "home" country. People who board at another residence to attend primary or secondary school, and return to their parent's(s') or guardian's(s') home for the holidays, usually reside at the address of their parent(s) or guardian(s). However, post-secondary students usually reside at the address where they live while studying. People who are in a rest home, hospital, prison or other institution, usually reside where they consider themselves to live. A person whose home is on any ship, boat or vessel permanently located in any harbour shall be deemed to usually reside at the wharf or landing place (or main wharf or landing place) of the harbour. People who spend time residing at more than one residence usually reside whichever they consider themselves to live. Children in joint custody usually reside at the place where they spend more nights, or if they spend equal amounts of time at each residence, they usually reside at the place where they were on census night If a person spends equal amounts of time residing at different addresses, or none of the above guidelines applies, the person usually resides at the address he or she was on census night People of no fixed abode have no usual residence. |
| Usual Residence Indicator | The usual residence indicator is where a respondent states that they usually reside in relation to their census night address. |
| Usual Residence Five Years Ago | Usual residence five years ago is the usual residence of a respondent five years prior to the date that the data is collected. |
| Usual Residence Five Years Ago Indicator | The usual residence five years ago indicator is a respondent's usual residence five years ago in relation to their usual residence |
| Variable | The term variable is used synonymously with those of data field and data item. It represents a single piece of information, such as the age or sex of a respondent. A variable can be discrete (for example, occupation) or continuous (such as rent paid per week). |
| Visitor | A visitor to a dwelling is a person who is present in a dwelling at the time of the survey but does not usually reside in that dwelling. |
| Wards | Territorial authority areas with a population of 20,000 or more may be divided into wards for electoral purposes. Those with a population of less than 20,000 may also be so divided. For both categories of territorial authority the final composition of wards are as determined by the Local Government Commission. The regulations governing the establishment of wards and the factors to be used in their determination are contained in the Local Government Act 1974 and its amendments. Wards are required to reflect communities of interest and their boundaries to coincide, as far as practicable, with community boundaries. |
| Ward of State | A ward of state is a person who is under the care or control of a legal guardian(s) appointed by the state. It is possible for a ward of state to be related to his or her legal guardian(s). |
| Weekly Rent | Refers to the amount paid per week by a household to rent or lease an occupied permanent private or temporary private dwelling. |
| Widowed | A widowed person is a person who has not remarried following the death of his or her legal husband or wife. |
| Workplace | Workplace address is the physical location of a person's place of paid employment. Workplace address consists of the distinguishing details of the physical location of a workplace for the purposes of the data collection, and can include the name of the building; street number, name and type; suburb or rural locality; and city, town or district. Workplace and Usual Residence information can be combined to show travel to work patterns. |
| Year of Arrival in New Zealand | Year of arrival in New Zealand is the year that a respondent who was born outside of New Zealand first arrived in New Zealand as a permanent or long-term resident. |
| Years Lived at Usual Residence | Years at usual residence is the length of time in completed years (ignoring absences of less than three months) that a respondent has lived at their current usual residence. |
Contact Details
| Customer Service E-mail Contact: | info@stats.govt.nz |
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| Survey Enquiries E-mail Contact: | adele.quinn@stats.govt.nz |
Liability
Statistics New Zealand gives no warranty that the information or data supplied contains no errors. However, all care and diligence has been used in processing, analysing and extracting the information. Statistics New Zealand shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by the customer consequent upon the use directly, or indirectly, of the information supplied in this product.