The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census.

Results from the 2018 census were released to the public on 23 September 2019, from the Statistics New Zealand website. The most recent New Zealand census was held in March 2023.

History Background The Census Act 1877 required censuses to be held every fifth year and is well embedded in legislation and government systems.Future New Zealand censuses: Implications of changing census frequency or adopting other models Since 1881, censuses have been held every five years, with the exceptions of those in 1931 and 1941 and the one in 2011 which was cancelled due to the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, which displaced many Canterbury residents from their homes only a few weeks before census day. It was rescheduled for March 2013, so the 2013 census is the previous census completed before this one.

Issues and controversies In July 2018, it was estimated that the 2018 census had a "full or partial" response for 90 percent of individuals, down from 94.5 percent in the 2013 census and the planned release date for census information was changed from October of the same year to March 2019. This drop, which already amounted to the lowest census response rate for fifty years, was blamed on a 'digital-first' policy for the census. An independent review was initiated by the Government Statistician in October 2019, and in November Statistics NZ announced that release of census data would be pushed back to at least April 2019 due to "the complex nature of the task".

In early April 2019, the Government Statistician, Liz MacPherson was facing possible charges of contempt of parliament. She had twice refused, on 13 February and in early April, to disclose the number of partially and fully completed responses. On 9 April, she reported that one in seven New Zealanders, 700,000 people, failed to complete the census.

In July 2019 the independent inquiry returned its findings to the Government Statistician, the Minister of Statistics and the State Services Commissioner, reporting that too little attention had been paid to the non-digital aspects of the census, but also blamed operational complexity and flaws in management. Due to a decision to conduct the census primarily online, the census attracted only an 83% response rate, even lower than the 90% earlier reported, and well short of the 94% census percent target and a nine percent drop from the previous 2013 New Zealand census.

On 13 August 2019 the report was released to the public and Liz MacPherson offered her resignation, taking ultimate responsibility for the results, stating "I'm sorry, the buck stops with me." State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes agreed with her assessment, and asked MacPherson to remain in her role until Christmas of 2019, noting that "she is the best person to finish the remediation work".

Topics The 2018 census collected data on the following topics:

Population structure

Location

Culture and identity

Education and training

Work

Income

Families and households

Housing

Transport

Health and disability

Projections Statistics New Zealand annually conducts population projections for New Zealand as a whole, which are based on data from the previous census (in this case, the 2013 census) and calculated using a cohort-component method. Population projections also take into consideration births, deaths, and net migration.

In 2016, New Zealand's population at the time of the 2018 census was projected to be between 4,807,000 and 4,944,000.

Results Data uses fixed random rounding to protect confidentiality; each data point is rounded either to the nearest multiple of 3 ( chance) or the next-nearest multiple of 3 ( chance).

The census usually-resident population count of New Zealand is a count of all people who usually live in and were present in the country on census night (6 March 2018), and excludes overseas visitors and New Zealand residents who are temporarily overseas.

Due to the high rate of non-response in the census, the published results combine answers from census forms with data from the 2013 Census and from government administrative data. Reports from an External Data Quality Review Panel include quality ratings for each variable, taking the added data into account.

Population and dwellings Population counts for regions of New Zealand. All figures are for the census usually-resident population count. RegionPopulationChange2013 census2018 censusChangepp Northland 151,689 179,076 27,38718.05 Auckland 1,415,550 1,571,718 156,16811.03 Waikato 403,638 458,202 54,56413.52 Bay of Plenty 267,744 308,499 40,75515.22 Gisborne 43,656 47,517 3,8618.84Hawke's Bay151,179 166,368 15,18910.05Taranaki109,608 117,561 7,9537.26 Manawatū-Whanganui222,672 238,797 16,1257.24 Wellington 471,315 506,814 35,4997.53 North Island 3,237,048 3,594,552 357,50411.0 Tasman47,154 52,389 5,23511.10 Nelson46,437 50,880 4,4439.57 Marlborough 43,416 47,340 4,0149.25 West Coast32,148 31,575 5731.78 Canterbury539,436 599,694 60,25811.17 Otago 202,467 225,186 22,71911.22 Southland 93,342 97,467 4,1254.42 South Island 1,004,397 1,104,537 100,1409.97 Area outside region600 669 6911.50 New Zealand4,242,048 4,699,755 457,70710.79

Resident population count was 4,699,755, up 457,707 from the 2013 Census. There are 2,319,558 males in New Zealand (49.35% of the population) and 2,380,197 females (50.65% of the population). On average, the population grew by around 2.1% per year since the 2013 Census – significantly higher than the annual average growth between 2006 and 2013, which was 0.7%. The higher growth rate is consistent with higher net migration of 259,000 in the five years ended 30 June 2018 compared with 59,000 in the seven years ended 30 June 2013. Among children (under 15 years), males outnumbered females, with around 105 males for every 100 females. The ratio declined with age: there were 104 males for every 100 females in the age group of 15–29, 95 males for every 100 females at ages 30–64 years, and 87 males for every 100 females at age 65 or above. There was a total of 1,855,962 occupied and unoccupied private dwellings, 108,558 more than in 2013. Ten percent of private dwellings were unoccupied.

Birthplace In 2018, 3,370,122 people (71.7%) were born in New Zealand, with 1,329,633 (28.3%) born overseas.

Data is for the census's usually-resident population.

Birthplace Responses Number % Number pp New Zealand 3,370,122 71.71 389,298 1.44 Overseas 1,329,633 28.29 327,846 4.68 England 210,915 4.49 4,674 0.92 China, Mainland 132,906 2.83 43,785 0.73 India 117,348 2.50 50,172 0.91 Australia 75,696 1.61 12,984 0.04 South Africa 71,382 1.52 17,104 0.61 Philippines 67,632 1.44 30,333 0.50 Fiji 62,310 1.33 9,555 0.01 Samoa 55,512 1.18 4,851 0.09 South Korea 30,975 0.66 4,374 0.01 United States 27,678 0.59 6,216 0.05 Tonga 26,856 0.57 4,443 0.04 Scotland 26,136 0.56 183 0.09 Total people stated 4,641,897 98.77 – – Inadequately described 432 0.01 – – Not stated 57,426 1.22 – – Total 4,699,755 100 457,707 9.74

Ethnicity

There was no change in the top five ethnicities between the 2013 and 2018 censuses, which are New Zealand European (64.1%), Māori (16.5%), Chinese (4.9%), Indian (4.7%), and Samoan (3.9%).

Data is for the census usually-resident population count.

Results add up to over 100% due to people declaring multiple ethnicities.

Ethnic group Population % European 3,372,708 71.76 New Zealand European 3,013,440 64.12 English 72,204 1.54 South African European 37,155 0.79 Australian 29,349 0.62 European 34,632 0.74 Dutch 29,820 0.63 Scottish 18,627 0.40 Irish 17,835 0.38 German 16,818 0.36 American European 16,245 0.35 Other European 86,583 1.84 Māori 775,836 16.51 Asian 718,995 15.30 Chinese 231,387 4.92 Indian 221,916 4.72 Filipino 72,612 1.55 Korean 35,664 0.76 Japanese 18,141 0.39 Fijian Indian 15,132 0.32 Asian 11,811 0.25 Thai 10,623 0.23 Vietnamese 10,086 0.21 Other Asian 91,623 1.95 Pasifika 423,036 9.00 Samoan 182,721 3.89 Tongan 82,389 1.75 Cook Islands Maori 80,532 1.71 Niuean 30,867 0.66 Fijian 19,722 0.42 72,231 1.54 Latin American 27,756 0.59 Middle Eastern 28,626 0.61 African 15,849 0.34 Other 58,104 1.24 New Zealander 45,330 0.96 Other 8,757 0.19 Not listed 4,017 0.09 Total 4,699,755 100

Religion Most New Zealanders, 48.5% of the population, identify as being irreligious. Data is for the census usually-resident population count.

Religious affiliation Population % Irreligious 2,278,185 48.47 No Religion 2,264,601 48.19 Atheism 7,068 0.15 Agnosticism 6,516 0.14 Christian 1,738,638 37.00 Anglican 314,913 6.70 Christian 307,926 6.55 Roman Catholic 295,743 6.29 Presbyterian 221,199 4.71 Catholicism 173,016 3.68 Latter-day Saints 54,123 1.15 Methodist 52,734 1.12 Baptist 35,967 0.77 Born Again 33,486 0.71 Pentecostal 22,296 0.47 Jehovah's Witnesses 20,061 0.43 Christian Fellowship 18,042 0.38 Seventh-day Adventist 17,799 0.38 Assemblies of God 14,883 0.32 Tongan Methodist 11,169 0.24 Other Christian 145,281 3.09 Hinduism 123,504 2.63 Hinduism 121,644 2.59 Other Hinduism 1,890 0.04 Islam 61,455 1.31 Islam 57,276 1.22 Sunni 2,961 0.06 Other Islam 1,218 0.03 Buddhism 52,779 1.12 Buddhism 44,355 0.94 Theravada Buddhism 4,851 0.10 Zen Buddhism 1,401 0.03 Mahayana Buddhism 1,026 0.02 Other Buddhism 1,144 0.02 Judaism 5,274 0.11 Judaism 3,348 0.07 Other Judaism 1,926 0.04 Māori Religions 62,634 1.33 Rātana 43,821 0.93 Ringatū 12,336 0.26 Māori Religions, Beliefs and Philosophies / 5,283 0.11 Pai Mārire 1,194 0.03 New Age 19,011 0.40 Spiritualist 8,262 0.18 Pagan 2,730 0.06 Rastafari 1,707 0.04 Wiccan 1,482 0.03 Other New Age Religions 1,311 0.03 Satanism 1,149 0.02 Other 91,239 1.94 Sikhism 40,908 0.87 Jedi 20,409 0.43 Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster 4,248 0.09 Baháʼí 2,925 0.06 Taoism 1,098 0.02 Zoroastrian 1,068 0.02 Other 20,583 0.44 Object to answering 312,795 6.66 Total people stated 4,699,755 100 Total responses 4,732,641 N/A

Language The vast majority of New Zealanders, 95.4%, speak English; in second place is Māori, with 4.0% of the population being able to speak it. Data is for the census usually-resident population count.

Language Population % English 4,482,135 95.37 Māori 185,955 3.96 Samoan 101,937 2.17 No language (e.g., too young to talk) 101,751 2.17 Northern Chinese 95,253 2.03 Hindi 69,471 1.48 French 55,116 1.17 Yue 52,767 1.12 Sinitic (not further defined) 51,501 1.10 Tagalog 43,278 0.92 German 41,385 0.88 Spanish 38,823 0.83 Afrikaans 36,966 0.79 Tongan 35,820 0.76 Panjabi 34,227 0.73 Korean 31,323 0.67 Fiji Hindi 26,805 0.57 Japanese 24,885 0.53 Dutch 23,343 0.50 New Zealand Sign Language 22,986 0.49 Gujarati 22,200 0.47 Other 256,275 5.45 Total people 4,699,755 100 Total responses 5,834,166 N/A

Māori descent

18.5% of New Zealanders have at least some Māori descent. Data is for the census usually-resident population count.

Māori descent indicator Population % Māori descent 869,850 18.51 No Māori descent 3,715,050 79.04 Do not know 114,855 2.44 Total 4,699,755 100

Age The largest age group is people aged 25 to 29, who comprise 7.3% of the population. Data is the census usually-resident population count.

Ages Population % 0–4 294,921 6.285–9322,6326.86 10–14 305,847 6.5115–19301,8216.42 20–24 317,400 6.7525–29344,4667.33 30–34 317,034 6.7535–39295,3956.29 40–44 291,345 6.2045–49321,4836.84 50–54 308,589 6.5755–59302,7596.44 60–64 260,901 5.5565–69229,0324.8770–74183,6363.91 75–79 132,792 2.83 80–89 85,362 1.8285–8953,9791.15 90–94 23,817 0.5995–995,9100.13 100–104 606 0.01105–109390.00 110+ 0 0.00 Minors (0–17) 1,104,240 23.50 Working-age adults (18–64) 2,880,345 61.29 Seniors (65+) 715,173 15.22 Total 4,699,755 100

Sex Data is the census usually-resident population count.

Sex PopulationMale2,319,558Female2,380,197