Census data helps decide resourcing

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Anti-government sentiment after Covid-19 lockdowns and mandates is being seen as one of the reasons Stats NZ is struggling to reach its goal of 90 percent returns for the 2023 Census.

Last reports had the Census response rate at 86 percent with 4,408,894 of New Zealand’s estimated population of 5.2 million having returned their forms.

That has led to National Party statistics spokesman Simon Watts saying the Census was shaping up to be a failure. Only “a trickle” of forms were coming in now and he said the low return had nothing to do with Cyclone Gabrielle — most of the unreturned forms were from major cities. Completion rates were also worse for Maori and Pasifika communities.

Stats NZ had asked for another $37 million to finish the Census, meaning it could cost almost $300m and still “may not deliver accurate results”, Watts said.

Minister of Statistics Deborah Russell said in response that it was early days to be making a prediction on the outcome of the Census.

Stats NZ spokeswoman Tracy Dillimore said that although the rate was 86 percent, collection activities were continuing. Collectors finished their work in much of the country yesterday, but activities would continue in cyclone-affected regions such as the Far North, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay until the start of June.

From May 9 people who have not completed their Census forms will receive a final notice explaining that everybody who was in New Zealand overnight on March 7 is required to complete the Census, and if they do not they risk a fine of $2000.

Russell said staff had worked incredibly hard and there were more boots on the ground, more paper forms and more community engagement. Whatever the final completion rate, the 2023 Census would be an improvement on the 2018 one, she said.

Many believe anger over the Government’s Covid policies has had a clear spin-off in the Census — turning many to be anti-authority, some almost to the point of anarchy.

There has also been a negative response in some quarters to the questions this year about people’s gender and sexual identity.

All of this makes things hard for Stats NZ but there is no doubt that the information collected in the Census is vital for the country’s future planning. It is also essential to give central government a clear picture of the social and economic characteristics of local communities, to ensure they get the resources they need.