Term	Ethnicity - 2001 Census
Synonym
Related Term
Source of Definition
Short Definition
Statistical Activity	Population Census

Definition

Variable name:	Ethnicity
Definition:	Ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups that people identify with or feel they belong to. Thus, ethnicity is self-perceived and people can belong to more than one ethnic group. Ethnicity is a measure of cultural affiliation, as opposed to race, ancestry, nationality or citizenship. An ethnic group is a social group whose members have the following four characteristics: share a sense of common origins; claim a common and distinctive history and destiny; possess one or more dimensions of collective cultural individuality; feel a sense of unique collective solidarity.
Questionnaire:	Ethnicity is collected on the Individual form (Question 11).
Subject population:	Census Night Population Count 3,820,749 people were in New Zealand on Census night - all of whom have ethnicity collected for them.
Non-response:	Non response to the question was 3.9%.
Quality level:	Ethnicity is a foremost variable.
Comparability with previous census data:	Advice on the use of ethnicity data advice http://www.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/prod_serv.nsf/htmldocs/Change+in+ethnicity+question+-+2001+Census+of+Population+and+Dwellings The wording of the 2001 question is not consistent with the 1996 question. Time series comparison should not be undertaken between 1996 and 2001. The 2001 question used the same wording as the 1991 question, except "Maori" was "New Zealand Maori" in 1991.
Things to be aware of:	Total responses means that a person can be counted in more than one ethnic group. In 2001 a person can be counted in up to 6 ethnic groups. In 2001 up to 6 ethnic responses were coded. The 1991 census and 1996 census coded up to 3 responses only. The impact of the change on the 2001 data is relatively small, as only 0.3% of the population gave more than 3 responses in 2001. "Ethnic group - Up to 3 responses" is a derivation which reduces the number of ethnic responses from a maximum of 6 down to 3. This derivation is used to compare 2001 data with 1996 data, which coded a maximum of 3 ethnic responses. At Level 1 of the Classification (for example, Maori, Pacific Peoples, European, Asian, Other), an individual can be counted in more than one group, but within a group they are counted once only. For example, a person can be Asian and Maori, but not Asian twice.
	If help is required with using this variable, email us on info@stats.govt.nz or phone 0508 525 525

Example