Census 2006 - stocktake of a nation

There's simply no hiding from it. Wherever you are in New Zealand on Tuesday, March 7, the census collectors will find you.

The census covers the entire population, including visitors to New Zealand on the day, and every occupied dwelling in the country.

Because the population is always changing, a census is needed every five years to study the changes and to help make predictions about future needs.

The importance of having a regular census was highlighted only last month in a United Nations report which showed that many developing nations were making economic, health and education decisions without knowing how many girls or boys are born or how many work or die.

Some countries, like Colombia, Nigeria, Peru and Uzbekistan, have not conducted a census since 1995, while Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan and Vietnam have registered less than 90 per cent of all births.

Populous India and China, along with most African countries, are among the nations that did not report the sex of infants born between 1995 and 2003, the survey said.

The report by the statistics division of the UN economic and social affairs department, urged nations to provide complete census data, especially on gender.

New Zealand's census is compulsory to ensure that the results present an accurate picture of who we are as a nation. If the survey was voluntary, there would be no way of knowing if the results were truly representative of the way we are.

The statistics that come out of the census are used by government departments to help develop policies and make a wide range of decisions, such as funding for schools, hospitals, social services and police.

Councils use the survey results to help them make decisions on matters such as roading and public transport systems, where to create recreational facilities, and generally to plan for the local community's needs.

Businesses can use the information to decide where to set up their stores and what products to sell.

Census statistics are also used to establish electoral boundaries for local and central government.

Statistics New Zealand, the government department responsible for the census, will have 6500 collectors delivering forms to and collecting them from about 4.2 million people and 1.6 million dwellings over a five-week period.

Some will be required to tramp into mountain huts, to kayak out to those on board boats, to ride on horseback to areas inaccessible by road, or to fly by helicopter when all else fails.

Those arriving at international airports just before midnight will be collared, as will those on cruise ships berthed at New Zealand ports.

While many trees have been sacrificed for the census -- around 178 tonnes of paper to be precise -- form-fillers are being offered the option of taking part in the census online for the first time this year.

Statistics New Zealand expects up to 15 or 20 per cent of people will take up this option -- that's around 600,000 people or 250,000 households.

Industry-standard security will be used to ensure the privacy of information provided by online form-fillers.

For those concerned about who gets to see their individual responses, Statistics New Zealand promises that no other government organisation can access individual census forms. That includes the New Zealand Police, Immigration Service and Inland Revenue.

Only authorised departmental staff can access your information. Each of them has to sign a Declaration of Secrecy.

The mandatory topics to be included in the questionnaires are name and address, sex, age and ethnic origin of every person and the location, number of rooms, ownership and number of occupants on census night in every occupied dwelling.

Extra topics can be included and must be assessed on the basis of significant community value, being publicly acceptable and reaching a particular level of quality. The census must also be the most appropriate method of collecting the information.

New questions this year include those on smoking, the number of children born to the respondent (revisited every 10 years), and homes which are held in family trusts.

Nancy McBeth, general manager of the census, seems surprisingly calm as C-Day looms.

She attributes this to the thorough analysis undertaken by staff after each census which identifies issues well ahead of the next one, but admits the job has had its challenges.

The census is a huge logistical operation, she says, not least of all because of its recruitment needs.

However, she is pleased to report that in the current tight labour market, the department received 15,000 applications for the 6500 jobs available.

"We're really excited about that because it shows that there is strong support out there among the public to get involved in the census."

There is also the challenge of making judgment calls about which questions should be included in the survey. This involves juggling the requirements of businesses and organisations which think their information needs can best be met by the census, against the need to include questions of most benefit to the New Zealand public.

"You're forever having to make trade-offs but that's partly what makes it so exciting."

Census 2006, with a budget of $70 million over a five-year period, is the first that Ms McBeth has been responsible for but she was heavily involved in the 1996 and 2001 censuses.

She is a statistician by profession, with more than 20 years' experience with Statistics New Zealand.

"I think the public has an image of statisticians being people only dealing with numbers. The real value that statisticians add is our ability to take those numbers and interpret what's going on in society."

Ms McBeth says that most New Zealanders are honest in filling out their forms.

"Most people realise that a huge range of decisions that impact on them and their communities is based on the information (from the census)."

Only 2 per cent of people did not fill out their forms, or had difficulty with them, in the last census -- a very low failure rate by international standards.

Over the last two censuses, only 40 people were prosecuted for not filling out their census forms.

For those waiting to see results from all this form-filling, Ms McBeth says improvements in technology and the expected response of online users is likely to speed up the processing of statistics.

All responses are scanned, and technology which reads handwriting will be used. A team of people is available to check forms manually where necessary.

Provisional findings from this year's census will begin to be released from late May, with more complex analyses available from February 2007.

- NZPA