Following yesterday’s announcement from Stats NZ, Penny Bloomberg updates us on the latest plan for releasing data from the 2018 New Zealand Census.
Late September is slated as the date for the first release of Census 2018 usual resident population figures, in time for electorate boundary setting process required in preparation for the 2020 General Election and District Health Board funding planning.
Data reliability has been the chief concern for Stats NZ, with Head Statistician Liz McPherson confirming “We’ve now created a census dataset that meets Stats NZ’s quality criteria for population structure information…”
Using “real data about real people”, other government datasets have been employed to make up 11 per cent of the dataset, with the balance 89% sourced from the 2018 Census.
However, this ‘administrative data’ is not available for all census topics. It is already known that there will be no release of official statistical iwi counts, and Stats NZ warn that other datasets may not be released because of the volume of missing data and gaps in alternative sources.
If you work in local government, you may wish to keep a copy of our free reference guide for the 2018 Census on hand as these Census topics roll out. You download a copy of Worth the wait – a simple guide to navigating the 2018 Census here.
Moving into 2020, expect the census topics to be worked through on a case-by-case basis.
September’s release will include;
Read the full release calendar from Stats NZ website here.
Early May 2019: Nationwide technical seminars
July 2019: Release of the independent review of the 2018 Census
23 September 2019: First release of 2018 Census data as above
23 September 2019: The External Data Quality Panel – Methodology and data quality report
December 2019: 2023 Census business case released
By March 2020: Release of the 2018 Census Post-Enumeration Survey report, the 2018-base estimated resident population figures, and updated population estimates for the June – December 2019.
It is expected that all 2018 census data will be released by mid-2020.
We’ll continue to keep everyone updated about the Census data and what it means for our partners in local government. Subscribe to our blog to have the latest delivered straight to your inbox.
For more information about this release, see https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/2018-census-real-data-about-real-people
A reminder, you can get your copy of Worth the wait – a simple guide to navigating the 2018 Census, here.