Fall in population growth expected

Press, 4 March 1981, Page 5

Fall in population growth expected

PA Wellington The lowest population growth in New Zealand’s history is expected to be revealed in the five-yearly national census this month. The Statistics Department also believes the March 24 census will show up big changes in the structure of families. It says the 1981 census, the twenty-seventh in New Zealand’s history, is likely to reaffirm these” trends: — The traditional family of mother, father, and children continues to decline in proportion to New Zealand households as a whole: — The number of sold women who are heading families has significantly increased; — The number of childless couples is growing; — More married women are working than ever before, and — The number of unrelated people flatting or

sharing houses has climbed substantially. The department feels a population growth of only 0.6 per cent to 0.7 per cent over the 1976 census will be uncovered in the five-yearly census. “If the census bears this out, it will be the smallest increase in any census since the first enumeration in 1851,” a spokesman said. A slowing of the rate of growth in the main urban centres, and in the north of the North Island in particular, is expected to be shown. Among the 47 questions asked about people and dwellings will be one on cigarette . smoking. It has been included at the request of several medical interest groups. Information about smokers was also sought in the 1976 census, which showed that four out of every 10 men and three in every 10 women were regular cigarette smokers. A question included for the first time this census is one asking about income from social security benefits. Under the Statistics Act, 1975. every person in New Zealand at midnight between March 24 and 25 must be included in the census. If questionnaires are not delivered to a dwelling the householder must, by law, take steps to obtain them from the nearest Post Office, s The only section of the questionnaires which is not compulsory’ is the' question on religion. An estimated population

of 3,152,000, living in some one million dwellings. has to be covered by the census. Questionnaires will be delivered in the week before March 24 by census staff wearing official badges and carrying certificates of authority. The certificates must be produced on request. Collection of the comple t e d questionnaires, again, by census staff, will begin on March 25. Preliminary population and dwelling counts for regions will begin to appear in newspapers within four weeks of the census date. The Statistics Act, 1975, provides that information required by the department must be supplied if requested by one: of its officers. The same law places a legal obligation on the department to ensure that census answers remain confidential. Explaining the reason for the census, a department spokesman said: “From time to time we must, as a people, take stock of ourselves if we are to meet successfully the many national and local challenges we face. This is the over-all purpose of the census.” Census information is used daily throughout New Zealand, and its applications are becoming increasingly diverse. Government policy, business planning, community development and social research are “all dependent, to an increasing extent, on the accumulation of data about society.”