More Kiwis gain formal qualifications

Nearly four in five New Zealanders now have formal qualifications, Statistics New Zealand said. Photo / Thinkstock

More Kiwis have formal qualifications, according to new census figures released today.

Nearly four in five New Zealanders now have formal qualifications, Statistics New Zealand said.

The latest figure of 79 per cent was up from 75 per cent in 2006. Back in 2001, only 72 per cent had qualifications.

"More people have a qualification, and more are gaining higher levels of formal qualifications. Twenty per cent of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher qualification, compared with 16 per cent in 2006," Census customer focus manager Gareth Meech said.

Wellington City had the highest proportion of people with a bachelor's degree or higher qualification, at 41 per cent.

Queenstown-Lakes district had the highest percentage of people with a level 5 or 6 diploma, at 12 per cent.

An increasing proportion of Maori and of Pacific Islanders had qualifications.

Almost 67 per cent of Maori held a formal qualification in 2013. That was up from 60 per cent seven years earlier.

For Pacific peoples, the proportion was 70 per cent, up from 65 per cent in the 2006 census.

More women than men had a post-graduate or honours degree. Women made up 60 per cent of this group when the last census was taken. That mirrored a wider trend - women were dominant in most qualification categories.

But men made up 71 per cent of people with a level 4 certificate qualification, which included trades certificates.

Statistics New Zealand said men and women chose different post-school qualification fields of study.

"For instance, men are 10 times as likely to study engineering and related technologies as women, while women are nearly five times more likely to study health as men," Mr Meech said.

Almost 15 per cent of adults were taking part in some kind of study at the time of the census. Of these, 74 per cent were studying full-time, up from 66 per cent in 2006.
The new "QuickStats" report on qualifications also found older people were less likely to have formal qualifications.

People with a higher qualification tended to have higher median income.
The census also found management and commerce was the most common post-school qualification fields of study.

More than half of people in part-time study also worked full-time.