2011 Census
The 2011 Census was not held on 8 March 2011. See here for the latest news about the 2011 Census.
The information below was prepared before the Government Statistician announced on 25 February 2011 that the 2011 Census would not be held, following the earthquake in Christchurch.
It describes what would have happened to your census forms if the census had been held.
Returning your forms
Census day is Tuesday, 8 March 2011. An official census collector will deliver census forms, and information about completing your forms online, to your home. This will happen in the 17 days before census day. Each household will receive an Internet Access Code so you can complete your census forms online. Your code is unique to your household and protects the privacy of people in your home. Once you submit a form online, it is sent direct to Statistics New Zealand using secure technology known as secure socket layer (SSL). This method is as secure as that used for electronic transfer of money between banks. In the 12 days after census day, your collector will call back to collect any forms not completed online. Collectors have been trained to maintain the security of paper forms and the confidentiality of your information at all times. They must keep all forms secure: both blank and completed ones. If you do not want the collector or other members of your household to see your completed paper forms, you can ask for privacy envelopes and stickers. Only designated census staff are allowed to open privacy envelopes.
Collectors may also leave an envelope so you can post your forms back to Statistics New Zealand. |
Paper forms will be delivered by an
official census collector.
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Confidentiality of your forms
Every 2011 Census form contains a confidentiality message from the Government Statistician. We at Statistics New Zealand have a legal obligation to keep your information confidential, and we will not share your personal details with any other government department. All people involved in running the 2011 Census must sign a declaration of secrecy before starting their duties. This applies to everyone involved in the collection and processing phases, no matter whether they are permanent or temporary employees, or work part-time or full-time. Only staff at Statistics New Zealand that need census information for work purposes may access completed census forms. Read more about how Statistics New Zealand keeps your information confidential and check out our privacy principles. |
Confidentiality statement from the Government Statiscian
on the 2011 Census individual form. |
Transporting and storing your paper forms
Transportation of completed paper census forms from the 142 census offices in the community to the census processing centre is done under very high security, following strict Statistics New Zealand guidelines. A transportation firm provides an intermediate storage and distribution point for all completed paper forms before they get stored in the census processing centre. Both storage facilities are securely locked and under constant video surveillance. |
Paper forms are stored in the census processing centre under strict security.
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Processing your forms
Data from Internet forms go straight into the census processing system where it is combined with scanned images of the paper forms. Three scanners are needed over 35 days to scan all the paper forms, making images of up to 120,000 forms per day. It will take approximately 200 people working on two shifts, five days a week, for five months to process all the forms and check the quality of all the information. Once the paper forms are scanned, no one can print images of them. Only staff involved in the processing, evaluation, and archiving of the combined Internet and paper form data can view the images. Access to the processing system is restricted to processing staff and the necessary IT support. |
One of the machines used for scanning the paper forms.
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Archiving your forms
The Public Records Act 2005 requires Statistics New Zealand to keep a complete set of 2011 Census forms. After 100 years, these records must be passed to Archives New Zealand, although access will be controlled by the Government Statistician. The forms can only be accessed for statistical purposes, under section 37D(a) of the Statistics Act and subject to meeting a number of relevant rules. All 2011 Census forms will be stored as digital files by Statistics New Zealand. Information from completed Internet forms is retained as a computer dataset and, after scanning, the paper forms are stored as images. Paper forms will be securely destroyed once they are no longer required for processing purposes. Instead of using boxes to store tonnes of paper forms, digital archiving of the 2011 Census forms will create about 1.25 terabytes of digital images and datasets – a lot of computer storage space by today's standards. Digital storage will cost about one-fifth of the cost of storing paper. Statistics New Zealand has archived the forms from the 1966, 1976, 1986, and 2006 censuses. Only a selection of forms from the 2001 Census has been archived – at that time, respondents could choose whether they wanted their census forms to be retained or not. Further information about archiving census forms can be found in the 2011 Census Appraisal Report. |
All 2011 Census forms will be archived in digital format.
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Completed forms must be archived, and the digitised data retained by Statistics NZ for 100 years.
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Published information from the census
Information analysed from the 2011 Census will be released from late 2011 onwards. The Statistics Act 1975 requires that published statistical information must keep your personal information confidential.
Statistics New Zealand applies statistical techniques called confidentiality rules: these make sure that no individual can be identified from the published census data. The confidentiality rules ensure that we meet the legal need to protect the details of individual persons, while giving useful information about grouped individuals (such as by age, by region) to data users.
Published information and data from the 2011 Census will be available from the Statistics New Zealand website, free of charge.
Related links
For information about the 2011 Census content and form development process go here.
For all other information about the 2011 Census go to www.census.govt.nz.