Offers of free Warriors tickets and food vouchers haven’t been enough to get the 2023 Census target over the line, as 4% of New Zealanders are yet to fill in their Census documents.
Census Day was held on Tuesday 7 March but has been extended for weeks in order to get the data Stats NZ needs.
As of 9am this morning, Stats NZ said 4,431,326 people had returned their forms.
It comes as a final notice awaits those who don’t complete the Census by tomorrow – the only communities who are exempt are cyclone-affected regions that have until 1 June.
In February, Statistics Minister Dr Deborah Russell said: “90% of the country is ready to do the Census” but when questioned yesterday, would not commit to achieving that specific target.
She said as of the end of April, the response rate was sitting at 86%. Stats NZ told 1News the response rate is still at 86% today.
Asked whether it was appropriate to use tactics like giving out Warriors tickets to people to incentivise them to fill in forms, Russell said it was necessary to get the “last few responses” in.
“We are working hard to try and reach some of our hard-to-reach communities," she said.
"We have a lower response rate than we’d like from Māori and Pasifika and a lower response rate than we’d like from South Auckland. So yes I am comfortable doing whatever it takes to get the Census across the line.”
She said she believed Stats NZ had all the mechanisms in place to get the response rate up.
“We've been working hard on doing it. We've got people in the field until tomorrow across most of the country, in cyclone-affected areas until the end of June.”
Final day census workers door-knock for a response
Today is the last day Census collectors are out in force in communities, trying to engage with households yet to fill in the legally-required document.
“If you do not complete the Census by 4 May online, you will receive a final notice," Stats NZ said in a statement.
"This notice will explain that everyone who was in Aotearoa New Zealand overnight on 7 March 2023 is required to complete the Census, and if they do not, they risk being fined $2,000 under the Data and Statistics Act 2022."
But it’s still taking a carrot, rather than stick approach.
“It is too early to say how many prosecutions will be undertaken. Our current focus is on continuing to encourage and support people to do their Census if they have not yet done so,” a spokesperson said.
“There is face-to-face support available to do the Census through to 4 June and Stats NZ will continue to hold Census support events around the country people can attend to get help to do their Census forms.”
Stats NZ says lower response rates are coming from some parts of Northland, South Auckland (Mangere, Ōtara, Papatoetoe, and Manurewa), Cannon’s Creek/Waitangirua in Wellington, Huntly and some suburbs of Hamilton in the Waikato, Ōpotiki, Kawerau, and Murupara in the Bay of Plenty.
New Zealand's national estimated population at 30 June 2022 was 5,124,000 people.
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