March 01, 2018
Good uptake of online census
Half a million people have already completed the census ahead of the March 6 deadline.
Census worker George Ngatai says Statistics New Zealand hopes to get 80 percent of New Zealanders filling it in online, although paper forms are available on request.
He says it’s important whanau Maori take part, so their presence is taken into account when the government make decisions about where to put their resources in areas such as health, housing, employment and education.
"In terms of schools and stuff we rely a lot on census data to ensure adequate resources go into the schools but if there are schools required to be built, the data gathered through us completing our census absolutely aligns that," Mr Ngatai says.
Iwi are also making increasing use of census data to advocate for resources.
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