Principals say it's "party time" in many Auckland schools because the city's housing shortage has bumped about half the region's schools down the decile ratings.

The Ministry of Education has begun informing schools of their new decile ratings and at least one Auckland school will need to rely more on parent fundraising as a result.

Childless couples are making up an increasingly large proportion of families - a trend that has been on the rise for more than 20 years, Statistics New Zealand says.

Did you know there are 243 Eritreans living in New Zealand and more than four in five are born overseas?

In a land where Smith, Jones and Wilson once ruled the nursery, Wang, Li and Chen are now the most common surnames for babies born in our most diverse city.

The manufacturing sector has seen a significant decline in the number of people employed since 2006, according to a Royal Society of New Zealand Review.

Eric Watson writes: Are there potentially a large number of Kiwis who feel aggrieved because our "most important" public holidays are Christian holy days?

New Zealand will be made made up of a people of multiple "national" identities and its population growth may be entirely dependent on immigration, says a new study.

The number of homeowners in New Zealand continues to fall, with fewer than half of all Kiwis owning their own property, new Census figures show.

If you want your pay packet boosted, head to the West Coast; if religion is your thing, Auckland is the place to be; and if you value your marriage avoid Nelson.

A breakdown of results from the latest census shows how Aucklanders are more religious, smoke less ... and they're well behind Nelson for divorces.

New Zealand's most religious regions have been revealed in the latest Census data. Click here for an interactive graphic looking at the various districts.

The South Island has had bigger median income gains than the North over the past seven years, Census figures show.

Our house prices are high, our wages are low - so why is the world coming home to New Zealand?

A Hastings man summoned to court after failing to fill in the 2013 census has completed the forms and talked his way out of a fine.

Adults' rate of smoking has declined to 15 per cent in the latest census, down from 20.7 per cent in 2006.

The Auckland Council reckons Auckland is 20,000 to 30,000 dwellings short of what it needs, writes Brian Fallow.The NZ Institute of Economic Research begs to differ, putting the shortfall at just 5000.

Editorial: It has been a long wait for a clear measure of New Zealand's population. Now the census confirms it's 4.24m, it's time to think about how to increase that headcount.

The gap between the rich and the poor appears to be widening with the number of Kiwis earning more than $100,000 increasing by nearly three quarters.

Maori will be outnumbered by Asians as the second-biggest ethnic group in New Zealand within the next decade, a leading academic says.

Our latest batch of citizens are embracing the multicultural nature of the country they now call home.

An empty holiday season can hold painful memories of partners lost and families gone, writes Russell Hoban.

The typical Kiwi on Census day 2013 was aged 38, earned $28,500 a year, worked in a service job and owned his or her own home.

Statistics New Zealand has released key census information on the country's population, its mix of ages and sexes, and where people choose to live.