Yearbook 2012: Time for change after 120 years – Media release

4 July 2013

Times are changing in New Zealand and Statistics New Zealand is moving with them. After 120 years of printing official yearbooks, we’re now publishing them exclusively online, making them more accessible to all New Zealanders.

Information from Statistics NZ shows that 2.8 million people in New Zealand, aged 15 years and over, use the Internet, with 93 percent of them accessing it at home and 61 percent using a laptop.

While online, 73 percent of these people are doing their banking, and other popular online activities include shopping, social networking, and visiting government websites.

These facts and much more can be found in the New Zealand Official Yearbook 2012, released today by Statistics NZ.

The yearbook’s bite-sized stories offer a statistical snapshot of life in New Zealand in 2012. Topics covered include jobs, the screen industry, the Olympic Games, crime, Canterbury’s earthquake recovery, population, and the climate.

“The information collected and held by Statistics New Zealand and our partners in the Official Statistics System helps to tell the statistical story of the country, and the New Zealand Official Yearbook is a graphic illustration of this,” Deputy Government Statistician Carol Slappendel said.

“For previous editions we have had to charge a fee to cover the costs of production. But now the yearbook is available to all New Zealanders, and anyone else who wants to learn about our country, at no charge.”

“The yearbook has been telling the statistical stories of New Zealand since 1893. Just like the rest of the country, the book has developed over time to meet the changing needs of New Zealanders,” Ms Slappendel said.

View the New Zealand Official Yearbook 2012 

View historical digitised yearbooks dating back to 1893 

ENDS

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