Back to home page1994 - VOLUME 20, NUMBER 1-2
94.81.01 - English - Jim YOUNG, Statistics New Zealand Private Bag 4741, Christchurch (New Zealand)
The Quality of Family and Household Coding in the 1991 Census of Population and Dwellings (p. 1-18)
In the 1991 census of population and dwellings, Statistics New Zealand used computer programmes to assign family and household composition codes. Family codes describe each individual's place in a family. Household composition codes describe the number and characteristics of the families in each dwelling. The quality of these codes was measured in a study in which codes assigned by clerical staff were compared to the codes assigned by computer. In the next census, Statistics New Zealand can best improve the quality of family and household composition codes by identifying dwellings with imperfect data and giving these dwellings to specialist staff to code. (NEW ZEALAND, POPULATION CENSUSES, HOUSING CENSUSES, CODING, QUALITY OF DATA)
94.81.02 - English - Robin KEARNS and Judith REINKEN, Department of Geography, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland (New Zealand)
Out for the Count? Questions Concerning the Population of the Hokianga (p. 19-30)
Census data has to be assumed to represent fairly the population of an area until such time as supplementary surveys give reason to question this assumption. Recent developments in the organisation of health services in the Hokianga ward of the Far North District have led to the compilation of a register of all patients in the area. Discrepancies between the numbers revealed by the Hokianga Health Enterprise Trust and the 1991 Census of Population and Dwellings are presented and discussed in this paper. We speculate that high mobility and an aversion to cooperating with state-sponsored activities, among other things, may underlie the discrepancies between the two counts. We conclude that greater community involvement in the census process may be a useful consideration for the future. (NEW ZEALAND, POPULATION CENSUSES, QUALITY OF DATA)
94.81.03 - English - Natalie JACKSON, Ian POOL and Man Chit CHEUNG, Population Studies Centre, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton (New Zealand)
Maori and Non-Maori Fertility. Convergence, Divergence, or Parallel Trends? (p. 31-58)
Since the late 1980s the TFRs of Maori and non-Maori have all but converged, and both populations have experienced an upward shift in maternal age resulting from declines in fertility at the younger ages and increases at the older. The latter shifts have been interpreted as indicating that age-specific patterns of fertility and family formation may also be converging. The paper examines this issue, which is of both scientific and policy significance. Using, cohort data, it demonstrates that the shifts have been of a parallel rather than converging nature, and that earlier ethnic differences in age-specific patterns of childbearing have in fact consolidated rather than decreased. These findings have significant implications for social equity, among much else. (NEW ZEALAND, INDIGENOUS POPULATION, DIFFERENTIAL FERTILITY, FERTILITY TRENDS)
94.81.04 - English - Richard BEDFORD, Department of Geography, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton (New Zealand)
Population Studies in New Zealand: Beyond the Crossroads? (p. 59-68)
Population studies in New Zealand have gone through three broad phases in the last four decades, and the metaphor of negotiating a crossroads helps to put these in context. Population growth was viewed widely among New Zealanders as desirable in the 1950s and 1960s, and the study of population then was relatively straight forward and uncomplicated. The national confusion and loss of confidence and sense of direction that marked much of the 1970s and 1980s was reflected in the demographic studies of the period. But in the 1990s a more certain path and a new clarity in research directions are evident once again. (NEW ZEALAND, DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH)
94.81.05 - English - Philip S. MORRISON, Department of Geography, University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington (New Zealand)
Housing Occupancy and the Changing Size of Households and Dwellings in New Zealand, 1951-1991 (p. 69-101)
Progress across the last 40 years in the housing of New Zealanders is reviewed, using both published and unpublished census tabulations and the SUPERMAP2 mapping facility. The topics covered include dwelling occupancy, changing dwelling, and household size, the match between households and dwellings, and crowding, and its geography in Auckland and Wellington. A number of problems concerning the questions included in the successive censuses of housing are also identified, and the importance of a continuing dialogue between researchers and census-takers is stressed. (NEW ZEALAND, POPULATION CENSUSES, HOUSING CENSUSES
Back to home page