Stats NZ not ruling out delay to March 7 census due to cyclone

Wednesday, 15 February 2023

The 2023 Census for the first time included questions about sexual identity and orientation. (Video first published November 2022.)

Stats NZ has been unable to confirm whether the census will go ahead in flood-affected areas as planned on March 7, in the wake of disruption from Cyclone Gabrielle.

It began delivering census packs on Monday and said its operations were continuing as planned in the South Island.

However, it stood down staff in the North Island on Monday because of the cyclone.

Thousands of people have been displaced by the cyclone which has also severely damaged transport links in regions including Hawke’s Bay and Coromandel.

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Disruption from the cyclone could prove a spanner in the works for the March 7 census.

The department said in a statement on Wednesday evening that further decisions regarding “the approach and timing” of census collection operations in the North Island would be made when more information was known about the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle on affected communities.

“Stats NZ is working closely with NEMA and other government agencies to understand the impacts on the North Island,” it said.

Stats NZ would engage with partners, stakeholders, and census teams on the ground “to understand community sentiment to doing the census”, it said.

“Census data is important to every community across New Zealand, and any decisions about the census will be made after assessing and understanding the impacts on being able to complete the census and on delivering data from the census.

“The majority of New Zealanders are due to receive their census packs from 21 February, when the first mail-out gets underway. There are no changes to this plan,” it said.

The census has been billed as the most important one Stats has conducted, because of problems with the last two the censuses.

Stats NZ believes it undercounted the Māori population by about 49,000 in 2013.

Then there were broader issues in 2018 when an expectation that responses could be very largely gathered online proved overly optimistic.

That resulted in the response rate for the supposedly mandatory census slipping to just 85.5%.

It will also be the most expensive, with a budget of $251 million, including $33m for cost overruns, which is double the budget of the last census in 2018.