Statistics and numeric data

Key databases

New Zealand  |  International  |  Print resources  |  Search tips

New Zealand

• New Zealand Community Profile
  The profile provides demographic information for the Districts and Cities of New Zealand based on results from the 2013, 2006 and 2001 Censuses of Population and Dwellings.
• Te Whakahura a Kupe - Aotearoa – Iwi and Rohe Profiles
  The profile provides an analysis of the Māori descent population of New Zealand, based on results from the 2013 and 2006 Censuses of Population and Dwellings.
• OECD statistical profile of New Zealand
• New Zealand in the OECD
  Broad economic and social overview.
• Statistics New Zealand
  Browse for data by topic or use the website tools to create your own tables or graphs; online tutorials are available.
  • Business Toolbox 
    Access industry, markets and customer information.
  • Population
    Births, census, deaths, estimates and projections, life expectancy, migration and guides on how to interpret the data.
  • Statisphere
    Data resources are listed by subject and agency.
  • Long-term data series
    Access demographic, social and economic data.
  • Māori
    Access to statistical information relevant to Māori, including Statistics New Zealand's survey of Māori well-being - Te Kupenga
• New Zealand Government datasets online (also known as data.govt.nz)
  A directory of publicly-available, non-personal New Zealand Government held datasets. This site does not host data, instead it links to datasets held on other government websites.
• The Social Report
  Ministry of Social Development.
• Quality of Life
  Ministry of Social Development. Initially covering the six largest cities it has been expanded to include twelve territorial authorities.
• Review of New Zealand Longitudinal Studies
  Overview of the range and quality of New Zealand longitudinal data by the Families Commission.
• Wiki New Zealand
  Collaborative website making data about New Zealand visually accessible.

Resources to customise data

• Statistics New Zealand provides specialised research services
• Statistical Consulting Service
  Provided by the University of Auckland Statistics Department on either a fee per service or retainer basis to internal and external clients.
• Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences (COMPASS)
  University of Auckland.
• New Zealand Social Research Data Archives
  Massey University.
• New Zealand Social Statistics Network
  University of Auckland.

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International

Websites

• ClickZ Stats
  Reports on internet and media trends.
• Correlates of war data
  Scientific data about war, and identification of the factors that would explain the temporal and spatial variation in war.
• Cranet
  Cranfield Network on Comparative Human Resource Management. Contact Erling Rasmussen for access.
• Current Population Survey
  United States Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly survey of about 50,000 households.
• Eurostat
  The leading provider of high quality statistics on Europe. It includes EU policy indicators, population and social conditions, and economy, finance, general and regional statistics.

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics
  Statistical branch of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) delivers comparative data for countries on education, science and technology, culture, and communication.

More websites are in OFFSTATS under specific topics.

Economic statistics datasets free on the web

• EconStats
  United States, global economic data and stock market data. 
• Eldis
  Links to statistics sites, arranged by topics including education, gender, health, finance, poverty, labour, agriculture, food and nutrition, trade, commodities, and debt.
• International macroeconomic dataset
  From 1971 through 2017 for real (adjusted for inflation) gross domestic product (GDP), population, real exchange rates and other variables for 31 countries and 34 regions.
• Harvard CID
  Cross-country political, economic, and demographic data sets including Penn world tables and Polity. Free, but registration required.
• Living standards measurement study, World Bank
• Measuring Worth
  Historical data on economic aggregates (eg, GDP, wages) and calculators for making value comparisons over time (eg, relative value, purchasing power and exchange rates).
• National accounts main aggregates database
  United Nations annual data for GDP and exchange rates from 1970.
• NationMaster
  Compare and graph countries over a vast array of topics.
• NBER datasets
  United States National Bureau of Economic Research includes: trade, tariff and occupational wages around the world.
• Panel Study of Income Dynamics
  University of Michigan. See also: Member country listing from IFDO (International Federation of Data Organizations for the Social Science)
• Penn world tables
  University of Pennsylvania includes: purchasing power parity and national income accounts in international prices.
• Public opinion surveys.
  CISER's (Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research) list of internet sites.
• Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences: Tests available in compilation volumes
• World Bank research datasets
• World values surveys
  Information only. Online data access is by subscription. See also the 2005 New Zealand values survey.
• Zanran
  Numerical data search that provides access to Internet statistical data including charts and diagrams.

Data meta sites

• Data links
  Sponsored by the AEA, (American Economics Association) mostly to economic and financial data resources.
• Data on the net
  SSDC (Social Science Statistical Data) links to social science statistical data, data catalogs and data libraries.
• Economic data
  Links from Rutgers University Libraries.
• FedStats
  United States Federal Statistics. Select relevant data from the drop down lists.
• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Search by country or select Free text search for data.

Data archive centres

• Australian Social Science Data Archive
• CAMSIS
  University of Stirling Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification Scales project is an internationally comparative assessment of the structures of social interaction and stratification across a number of countries
• CESSDA 
  Council of European Social Science Data Archives. Includes North America and Australasia.
• COBRA
  Collection of Biostatistics Research Archives.
• Government Document Archive
  United States researching public documents.
• IASSIST 
  International Association of Social Science Information Service and Technology.
• IFDO 
  International Federation of Data Organizations for the Social Sciences.
• NDAD 
  National Digital Archive of Datasets is part of the United Kingdom National Archives. Provides access to government policy and legislation across a wide range of issues (eg, health, education, housing, crime and the environment).
• UK Data Service 
  United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council.

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Print resources

Statistical information can be in either print or electronic form. The General Library, University of Auckland, has a fairly comprehensive collection of statistical data both in print and electronic format. The print Statistics Collection is located on Level M, General Library. There are QR codes on the shelves to link from the print to the current electronic version using a mobile phone or ipad. Also check NZStats and OFFSTATS for online links.

Yearbooks, statistical bulletins, abstracts, etc, published by national statistical offices or other government departments for most countries.  Selected monographs which contain substantial statistical information published by a quasi-government or non-government organisations are also included.

The material is arranged by:

• S1 - Non governmental organisations (NGOs), followed by the organisation abbreviation (eg, EU, FAO, ILO, IMF, OECD, UN).
• S2 - National statistics, followed by the country abbreviation, then by a code based on a subject keyword, eg,  S2 / FJI  STAn  (Statistical news / Fiji Bureau of Statistics) or S2 / NZ CEN (New Zealand Census).
• S3 - International statistics from tertiary sources such as Euromonitor, Economist Intelligence Unit, Mintel, etc.

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Search tips

• Consider What kind of data?
• Include 'statistics' in a Library Search or database search, eg, education new zealand statistics.
• The print equivalent of electronic publications provides more detailed information on how, for example, data has been calculated or the source of the raw data.
  • Books in the Statistics Collection, Level M, General Library have a Not to be borrowed or Reference only status.
  • Books with statistical information (including appendices with statistical data) in the general collections are available for borrowing.
• Journal and newspaper articles often include statistics, search a selection of databases for likely articles eg, 
  • Index New Zealand
  • NewzText Plus
  • Business Source Premier
  • Factiva
• Check in NZSTATS and OFFSTATS databases.
• For business data use BISO to refresh your research skills
• See also Country information for profiles, rankings and rating; Energy information sources, Statistics, Mathematics and Finance.

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New Zealand as a village of 100 people has been released by Statistics NZ to support the 2013 census.

What is a census?

The census in New Zealand is an official count of population and dwellings. It takes place every five years and is carried out by Statistics New Zealand. For further information go to About census, Statistics NZ.

Definitions

• Census 
  From the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Census geography
  From the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography.

Key resources

• Census data
  Statistics New Zealand Census website including 2013 Census data as it becomes available. 2013 Census table finder is an Excel spreadsheet that helps you find the table you need by variable and topic.
• New Zealand Community Profile
  Provides demographic information for the New Zealand districts and cities based on results from the census taken in 2006 and 2001. 2013 data is being added as it becomes available.
• StatsMaps
  Statistics New Zealand dynamic map and chart display for the 2013 census data.
• 2013 census by Council
  A dynamic map display tool, part of the Spatial Time Series by Market Economics.
• 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings
  Complete data available as downloadable Excel spreadsheets.
• 2006 Census Meshblock Data (and Guide)
  May be integrated with StreetLink which concords streets and areas to larger administrative areas; or mapping systems using Geographic or digital boundary layers.

Further information

• Census print publications, shelved in the General Library Statistics Collection, Level M at S2/NZ CEN.
• Early census data
• In depth statistical data

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Key resources  |  Collected works on New Zealand  |  Census from 1851

Key resources

• Blue book of statistics, 1840-54 
  Microfilm 89/6-8. Held General Library Level G, Microtext Room.
• Blue books 1840 to 1855
  Digitised by Archives New Zealand.
• Statistics of New Zealand for the Crown Colony period 1840-1852 
  Digitised by the University of Auckland Library.
• Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand for the year... 
  Covers 1853 to 1920. From 1921 onwards a series of mostly annual subject reports have been produced.
• Monthly abstract of statistics
  Published from 1917 to 1989, and then from 1990 to 2010 as Key Statistics.
• Official handbook of New Zealand
  For the years 1875, 1889, 1890 and 1892.
• Yearbook collection
  1893 onwards. Digitised by Statistics New Zealand.  Print version New Zealand Official Yearbook. The first "official yearbook" was published for 1893 and appeared in print until  2012.  Combined volumes are: 1921/22; 1947/49; 1951/52. No yearbooks were published in 1991, 1999, 2001, 2003 or 2005.
• Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR)
  Published annually from 1858. The Appendices are a record of papers tabled in Parliament including annual reports of government departments. Papers in the AJHRs are classified under a system of “shoulder numbers”. The early volumes in particular include statistical data.
• Questions for written answer
  New Zealand Parliament. The Replies can be an informative source of statistical data.
• Statistical publications 1840-2000 
  A comprehensive overview of more than 150 years of statistical publications.

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Collected works on New Zealand

• Bloomfield, G.T. (1984). New Zealand, a handbook of historical statistics. Boston, Mass. : G.K. Hall.
• Briggs, P. (2003). Looking at the numbers: A view of New Zealand's economic history. Wellington, N.Z. : New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
• Dalziel P. & Lattimore, R.  The New Zealand macroeconomy: A briefing on the reforms and their legacy.  Auckland, NZ: Oxford University Press.
  All editions have a useful data appendix with mostly annual data from 1960 onwards.There is some quarterly data from 1980 onwards.
• McKinnon M. (Ed.), (1997). Bateman New Zealand historical atlas = Ko papatuanuku e takoto nei. Auckland, N.Z. : D. Bateman in association with Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs.
• Pool, D. Ian. (1991).  Te iwi Maori: A New Zealand population, past, present & projected. Auckland, N.Z. : Auckland University Press.
• Thorns, D. C. & Sedgwick, C.P. (1997). Understanding Aotearoa/New Zealand: Historical statistics. Palmerston North, N.Z. : Dunmore Press.

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Census from 1851

• 1851: first census. Results: Statistics of New Zealand for the Crown Colony period 1840-1852
• 1858, 1861, 1864, 1867. Results: Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand...
• 1858: first Maori general census. Results: Observations on the state of the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand
• 1871 onwards: Individual publications. Print volumes are shelved in the General Library, Level M at S2/NZ CEN
  1871, 1874, 1878, 1881, then 5 yearly to 1926. 1931 no census because of the Depression, 1936, 1941 census postponed because of war, 1945, 1951, and 5 yearly since 1951.
• 1874-1926 Maori census data published as an appendix to the main census tables.
• 1951 onwards the Maori and non-Maori census was combined.
• 1996, 2001, 2006, 2013 data online at Statistics New Zealand's website.

See also New Zealand history

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Specialised in-depth data

Statistics for universities
Statistics New Zealand under the CONZUL agreement, provides a customised in-depth data service and access to New Zealand and Australian Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs).

Customised in-depth data

• Customised and specialised in-depth data can be requested for specific research projects being carried out at the University of Auckland. Contact the University of Auckland Contact Officer.

Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs)

• Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) are unit record data that have been modified to protect the confidentiality of respondents while also maintaining the integrity of the data.
• New Zealand and Australian CURF datasets are available
• Any current staff member or student of the University of Auckland can apply to use CURFs.

There are different processes in the application and access to CURF datasets for Statistics New Zealand and the Australian Bureau of Statistics CURFs (ABS):

Statistics New Zealand CURFs access

Steps required:

1. Read the Statistics New Zealand guides and the Microdata access policy.
2. Complete and submit the application form, for approval.
   Or
   Contact the Access to Microdata service.
3. Statistics New Zealand website - CURFs for more information.
4. For further assistance Contact Officer.
5. Once research and use is completed, send the CURF to the Contact Officer for return.

Australian Bureau of Statistics CURFs access

Steps required:

1. Read the Deed of Undertaking form.
2. Complete and submit an Australian CURF 'how to apply' for approval.
3. There is a detailed guide for CURF users and a list of CURFs.
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics CURF microdata for more information.
5. For further assistance Contact Officer
6. Once research and use is completed, send the CURF to the Contact Officer for return.

Support

• Referencing
  Access a range of tools and support material to assist your referencing work.

Examples

• Quick©ite
  Use this interactive tool to view examples of references.
  Covers a range of styles used at the University of Auckland. Included is an example for statistics and numeric data.