New details about how Kiwis live have been revealed with the release of Census data.
The information released today includes data on Kiwis’ housing, what they earn, their sexuality, how they get to or from work and school, smoking rates and religious affiliation.
The Census is a nationwide, five-yearly headcount of everyone in New Zealand and where they are living or staying. The most recent survey was carried out in March last year.
For further details on this data and other insights from the Census, follow our live updates below.
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2 October, 10:32 pm
How we get to work
Travelling by car, truck or van was the most common way to get to work in 2023. But when it came to using public transport – this was most common among workers in Wellington (19.1%). In Auckland, 9.5% of people travelled to work by public transport.
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2 October, 10:31 pm
Stats NZ's new platform (announced in a press release by Minister Bayly yesterday) Aotearoa Data Explorer is back up and working again.
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2 October, 10:24 pm
Dramatic drop in telephone use
Telephone use - or landlines – has dropped dramatically in recent years and is now around half the rate of what it was in 2018. In 2023, 31% of households reported having a landline – compared with 62.5% at the time of the 2018 Census.
Chatham Islands is the only area where landline use remains high – at 73.1%.
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2 October, 10:21 pm
Two-thirds of homes have a heat pump
There has been a substantial increase in the use of energy-efficient heating – with around two-thirds of private dwellings (66.8%) having a heat pump, up from 47.3% in 2018.
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2 October, 10:20 pm
New Zealand's largest iwi
More than 350,000 people affiliate with one of New Zealand's three largest iwi. These are Ngāpuhi with 184,470 people (19.3%), Ngāti Porou with 102,480 (10.7%) and Ngāi Tahu with 84,969 (8.9%).
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2 October, 10:14 pm
More than half of New Zealanders have no religion
For the first time since the New Zealand census began to collect religious affiliations, more than half of the population had no religion (at the time of the 2023 Census).
The number of people who identify as Christian dropped from 36.5% of the population in 2018 to 32.3% in the latest Census. The other largest religious groupings were Hindu (2.9%) and Islam (1.5%).
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2 October, 10:08 pm
Most people have internet access
Nine in ten people had access to the internet in 2023. However, access varies by area and was lower in more rural districts. Buller district on the West Coast, and Ruapehu district in the central North Island, had the lower internet access rates at 79.9% and 80.9% respectively.
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2 October, 10:03 pm
Gisborne: Increase in mould, dampness after Cyclone Gabrielle
The only region in New Zealand where residents reported an increase in dampness and mould in their homes was Gisborne. All other regions reported a decrease.
Stats NZ principal analyst Rosemary Goodyear said the region was hit particularly hard during the cyclone events of 2023 and did not follow the national trend.
Gisborne reported the highest rate of dampness at least some of the time - from 26.4% in 2018 to 30% in 2023. Reports of mould over A4 size increased from 21.3% to 23.4% over this time
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2 October, 09:59 pm
Fewer damp, mouldy homes
Data from the 2023 Census shows a decrease in the number of people who report living with dampness in their homes – from 21.5% in 2018 to 18.1% in 2023.
For mould, one in seven homes in 2023 (14%) had mould larger than the size of an A4 piece of paper - compared to 1 in 6 or 16.9% in 2018.
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2 October, 09:58 pm
Auckland: Lowest home ownership
Auckland had the country's lowest home ownership rates in 2023 of all regions – at 59.5% - which was largely unchanged from the 2018 rate of 59.4%.
STORY CONTINUES
New Zealand’s population grew about 6.3% and is getting older and more diverse, Statistics New Zealand revealed in May. That tranche of the 2023 Census data showed the oldest section of the population is in the North Island, while the territorial authorities growing the fastest are in the South Island.
It showed that since the 2018 Census, New Zealand’s population has grown by almost 300,000 people. The 2023 results show most people live in the North Island, and our population continues to age and diversify ethnically.
The 2023 Census population count – which includes people who were in New Zealand on Census night – was 4,993,923 – almost 300,000 more people than the 2018 Census.
Population growth was slower between 2018 and 2023.
Most people lived in the North Island (76.3%, or three in four people) and one-third (1.66 million) lived in Auckland.
Populations have grown across all regions. The population growth rate for Auckland was 5.4%, almost half of the growth rate for the Tasman region (10%). The slowest population growth was in Wellington (2.8%) and Southland (2.7%).
The fastest-growing territorial authority (cities or districts) were Selwyn and Queenstown. Stats NZ said the slower population growth could be attributed to closed borders and slower migration, and low fertility rates.
Age data
New Zealand’s population is getting older, with the average median age rising from 37.4 years in 2018 to 38.1 years.
Thames-Coromandel is the oldest area in New Zealand – where 34% of people are over 65. In Kaikōura and Kāpiti, 27% of the population is over 65.
The youngest population is the Manurewa local board area in Auckland, where 24% of the population is aged under 15.
