The information gathered from the census is grouped together to provide snapshots of many aspects of New Zealanders’ lives, such as:
- who makes up our population
- how New Zealand families are changing
- what types of houses we live in
- what we earn
- what level of schooling we have
- what industries we work in.
From the census we can find out information about older New Zealanders, youth and children. We can look at the differences in the lives of men and women or find out how our local town or district is unique. The census is how we find out about who makes up our communities.
For example, from previous censuses we know that: almost two-thirds of the Māori population is under 30 years old; we have many new ethnic communities in New Zealand; we have a growing elderly population; and we are mainly urban dwellers.