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With the 2023 Census set to close off tomorrow, returns indicate a significant improvement on 2018 figures.
Statistics Minister Deborah Russell 4,560,486 people had returned their individual forms, which is an estimated individual return rate of 89 percent nationally and a significant increase from 82 percent in 2018.
The return rate for Maori is estimated to be 74 percent, well short of the 90 percent target but up on 2018, and for people of Pacific ethnicity it’s 79 percent.
Dr Russell says Stats NZ worked with iwi, community leaders and other organisations to make it a more inclusive census, by making participation easier.
It already has work underway to understand how it can further improve on the 2023 results, and there will also be an independent review.
International trends show a decline in census participation in many countries, and Stats NZ will continues to share knowledge with and learn from the experiences of other countries around how they’re gathering census data in the current era.
The first official release of census data will be in May 2024.
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