Tuesday 5 March 2013 is Census Day and the delivery of census forms is currently underway with 7000 collectors going door to door across New Zealand. In New Zealand, census must be undertaken every 5 years and it is managed by the Department of Statistics.
It enables a snapshot view of how many people and dwellings there are in New Zealand on that particular day. Participation in the 2013 Census is a legal requirement, and the information collected is used by businesses, iwi, councils, and the government to make decisions on issues that affect us all.
The Census is used to make decisions around health, education, transport and local government, so it’s important that everyone takes part.In the past, our Ethnic communities have not been truly engaged on Census Day, and that’s why we’ve developed a way to increase the communities understanding of the importance of this project.
This year, a team of 19 community liaison advisers have been working to promote the importance of census within many communities including Korean, Chinese, and Indian.The 2013 Census Community Liaison Team have connected with more than 1000 key influencers and leaders in these communities, who are able to endorse and promote census through a wide range of networks.
We’ve had an extremely positive response from community leaders who see the value of census.Having Hindi, and Mandarin speakers in the community liaison team, based in a number of areas around the country, means we are getting the census message out far and wide.
For instance in Auckland we have Pacific Island, Chinese and Indian community liaison workers who are able to speak with community leaders in their own languages, and can engage with media outlets that are aimed specifically at these communities.
Statistics NZ has also worked to undertake advertising campaigns in Maori, Samoan, Tongan, and Nuiean as well as others.Everyone who is in New Zealand on Tuesday, 5 March 2013 must fill in a census form so it’s important that Statistics NZ is providing information about census that reaches and is understood by people from all walks of life.
Read more in your preferred language here: http://aboutcensus.census.govt.nz/resources/about-2013-census-in-other-languages.aspx
Note: The 8 March 2011 Census was called off following the 22 February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch. At that time, the 2011 Census could not have been successfully completed, given the national state of emergency and the probable impact on census results.