The place summaries web tool has officially been launched, Stats NZ said today.

“Place summaries shine a light on our communities across a range of topics. Using our new tool, anyone can easily see themselves and their community in 2018 Census data,” general manager social and population insights, Jason Attewell said.

“The website tool lets anyone interested in census data access information about the communities they live, work, and play in, on both a large and small scale.”

You can use 2018 Census place summaries to explore information on 26 topics, grouped into seven themes:
 

• Population and dwellings
• Ethnicity, culture, and identity
• Health
• Work, income, and unpaid activities
• Education and training
• Transport
• Housing.

You can look at New Zealand nationally or break the country down into regions, districts (or local boards for Auckland), and small areas known as SA2s, the second level of statistical areas used by Stats NZ. The data for each geographical area can be quickly compared with the area above it in the hierarchy. For example, data for Hobsonville Point (an SA2) can be easily compared with data for Auckland, and data for Auckland can easily be compared with data for New Zealand.

SA2s represent between 1,000 and 4,000 people in city and district council areas, and often fewer than 1,000 in rural and urban areas.

In smaller towns, there may only be one or two SA2s for the entire town, but in bigger cities there can be multiple SA2s in each suburb.

You can determine which SA2 you live in by searching for your address in the

Geographic Boundary Viewer

.

“Census data is everyone’s data, so it’s important everyone can access it and find what is of interest to them,” Mr Attewell said.

“The more access that communities, groups, and individuals have to census data, the better they can advocate for the things in their community that matter to them, like health care, parks, and funding for local sports.”

The web pages containing the equivalent information from the 2013 Census were some of the most popular pages on the Stats NZ website.

Quick stats about New Zealand from the 2018 Census

Note: Data about people is based on the census usually resident population count.

Population and dwellings

• The national median age was 37.4 years.
• 30.8 percent of women aged 15 years and over had never given birth at the time of the census.
• 16.2 percent of people born overseas arrived in New Zealand between 5 and 9 years before the 2018 Census.

Ethnicity, culture, and identity

• 18.5 percent of people were of Māori descent, compared with 17.5 percent in 2013.
• 27.4 percent of people were born overseas.
• 946,239 people could speak two or more languages.
   

Health

•The percentage of people who smoked regularly has decreased nationally from 15.1 percent to 13.2 percent. For Māori, there was a decrease in regular smokers (32.7 percent to 28.3 percent) and an increase in those who never smoked regularly (44.2 percent to 48.5 percent).

Work, income, and unpaid activities

• The national median income was $31,800 in the year to 31 March 2018.
• 17.2 percent of the people counted earned over $70,000 in the year to 31 March 2018.
• There was an increase nationally in the percentage of people in full-time employment (48.0 percent to 50.1 percent) and part-time employment (14.3 percent to 14.7 percent). The percentages also increased for Māori, from 43.4 percent to 47.7 percent (full-time) and 13.1 percent to 14.7 percent (part-time).

Education and training

• There was an increase nationally in the number of people with a post-high school qualification, with 14.6 percent having a bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification and 5.7 percent having a post-graduate or honours degree. Among Māori, 8.4 percent have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification (up from 7.5 percent in 2013) and 2.5 percent have a post-graduate or honours degree (up from 1.3 percent in 2013).
• Nationally, 3.7 percent of people have a master’s degree and 0.8 percent have a doctorate. 1.3 percent of Māori have a master’s degree and 0.3 percent have a doctorate.
• The number of people aged 15 years and over without a post-high school qualification decreased by 2.7 percent nationally to 18.2 percent.
   

Housing

• The median weekly rent increased from $280 in 2013 to $340 in 2018.
• 91.9 percent of households said they had access to a mobile phone.
• 86.1 percent of households said they had access to the internet.
• 51.3 percent of households in occupied private dwellings owned or partly owned their homes.
• 47.3 percent of dwellings counted used a heat pump to heat their home. 44.1 percent used an electric heater.
• Note: Where more than one heating type was provided for a dwelling, they were counted in each applicable group.

About the 2018 Census dataset

We combined data from the census forms with administrative data to create the 2018 Census dataset, which meets Stats NZ’s quality criteria for population structure information.

We added real data about real people to the dataset where we were confident the people should be counted but hadn’t completed a census form. We also used data from the 2013 Census and administrative sources and statistical imputation methods to fill in some missing characteristics of people and dwellings.

Data quality for 2018 Census

provides more information on the quality of the 2018 Census data. An independent panel of experts has assessed the quality of the 2018 Census dataset. The panel has endorsed Stats NZ’s overall methods and concluded that the use of government administrative records has improved the coverage of key variables such as age, sex, ethnicity, and place. The panel’s Initial Report of the 2018 Census External Data Quality Panel (September 2019), assessed the methodologies used by Stats NZ to produce the final dataset, as well as the quality of some of the key variables. Its second report

2018 Census External Data Quality Panel: Assessment of variables (December 2019) assessed an additional 31 variables.

In its third report, Final report of the 2018 Census External Data Quality Panel (February 2020), the panel made 24 recommendations, several relating to preparations for the 2023 Census. Along with this report, the panel, supported by Stats NZ, produced a series of graphs summarising the sources of data for key

2018 Census individual variables, 2018 Census External Data Quality Panel: Data sources for key 2018 Census individual variables.

The Quick guide to the 2018 Census outlines the key changes we introduced as we prepared for the 2018 Census, and the changes we made once collection was complete.

The geographic boundaries are as at 1 January 2018. See Statistical standard for geographic areas 2018.

Definitions and metadata

2018 Census – DataInfo+

provides information about methods, and related metadata.

2018 Census information by variable and quality – DataInfo+

provides information about the variables and their quality.

Data quality ratings for 2018 Census variables

provides information on data quality ratings.

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