Quality Statement
This information by concept is primarily about family type. There is a suite of family variables that are closely related, and further information is available in the Appendix for the following related variables:
- Age of youngest child in family
- Age of youngest dependent child in family
- Dependent child under 18 indicator
- Dependent young person indicator
- Family type by child dependency status
- Family type by number of children
- Family type by type of couple by gender
- Gender of sole parent
- Identification of individual's family nucleus
- Individual's role in family nucleus
- Number of adult children in family
- Number of children in family
- Number of dependent children in family
- Number of people in family.
A family (or family nucleus) is a couple with or without child(ren), or one parent and their child(ren) whose usual residence is in the same household. A family nucleus does not include children if they live with a partner or children of their own in the same household. Included are people who were absent on census night but usually live in a particular dwelling and are members of that family. Generally, these will be people reported as being absent on the online household set-up form or paper dwelling form and are away from New Zealand for less than 12 months.
Family type classifies family nuclei according to the presence or absence of couples, parents, and children.
A couple comprises two people who are partnered with each other who live in the same household.
A parent is the mother or father (birth-/biological, step-, adopted, or foster), or a ‘person in a parent role’ of a child in a family. A person in a parent role is not the mother or father (birth-/biological, step-, adopted, or foster) of the child, yet usually resides with the child.
To be a child, a person must usually reside with at least one parent and have no partner or child(ren) of their own living in the same household. It can apply to a person of any age. A dependent child is a child aged under 15 years or aged 15–17 years and not employed full time.
An adult child is a child in a family who is aged 15 years or over and employed full time, or a child in a family who is aged 18 years or over.
Family type: High quality
Data quality processes section below has more detail on the rating.
Priority level 2
A priority level is assigned to all census concepts: priority 1, 2, or 3 (with 1 being highest and 3 being the lowest priority).
Family type is a priority 2 concept. Priority 2 concepts cover key subject populations that are important for policy development, evaluation, or monitoring. These concepts are given second priority in terms of quality, time, and resources across all phases of a census.
The census priority for family type remains the same as 2018.
The 2023 Census: Final content report has more information on priority ratings for census concepts.
Family type: Families in occupied private dwellings
‘Subject population’ means the people, families, households, or dwellings that the variable applies to.
Family type is classified into the following categories:
Family Type - New Zealand Standard Classification 1999 V1.0.0 - Level 1 of 1
| Code | Category |
|---|---|
| 1 | Couple Without Children |
| 2 | Couple With Child(ren) |
| 3 | One Parent With Child(ren) |
Family type uses a 1-level flat classification as presented in the table above. Follow the link above the table to examine the classification and find more detail.
The 2023 Census classification for family type is consistent with that used in the 2018 Census.
Standards and classifications has more information on what classifications are, how they are reviewed, where they are stored, and how to provide feedback on them.
Family type is derived from information about the people who usually live in the household: usual residence (question 5 on the individual paper form), living arrangements (question 17 on the individual paper form) and relationship to reference person (questions 18 and 21 on the dwelling paper form).
For more information on the question format see households, families, extended families, see Count of families and households – 2023 Census: Information by concept
Stats NZ Store House has samples for both the individual and dwelling paper forms.
Data-use outside Stats NZ:
- by central government agencies, local authorities, private organisations, and researchers in the formulation of social policy, for planning and monitoring programmes, and for research purposes.
- in the development of the Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation (NZDep). Single parent family is one of the variables used to create this index.
- by Ministry of Social Development, along with child dependency status, household composition, and extended family type to produce derived statistics.
Data-use by Stats NZ:
- family data is used to produce family estimates and projections.
Data sources for individuals included in families and households are from either census responses or admin enumerated records in occupied private dwellings.
The data source for households and families can be from census responses only, admin enumerations only, or a mixture of both census responses and admin enumerations. Methodology for using admin data to count people in the 2023 Census has more information about admin enumeration.
Blank households are private dwellings containing no census respondents or admin enumerations, but where a household of usual residents would be expected.
| Data sources used to derive family and household data – households in occupied private dwellings | |
|---|---|
| Source of household counts | Percent |
| Household from census forms | 92.3 |
| Admin enumerated household | 3.1 |
| Household from both census forms and admin enumeration | 1.2 |
| Blank household | 3.5 |
| Total | 100.0 |
| Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s). | |
For admin enumerated records and where information from census forms was missing, relationship information from historical census data and admin data was used. Sources of admin relationship information include:
- Department of Internal Affairs births, deaths, marriages, and civil unions
- Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment visa applications
- Ministry of Social Development partnership and child data
- Working for Families tax return details.
For the purposes of family and household coding for the 2023 Census, admin relationships were restricted to partners, parents, children, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren.
Missing and residual responses represent data gaps where respondents either did not provide answers (missing responses) or provided answers that were not valid (residual responses).
Where possible, alternative data sources have been used to fill missing and residual responses in the 2023 and 2018 Censuses.
There are no non-response categories for families. Without census response or admin enumeration of usual residents into a dwelling, relationships cannot be formed, and family variables cannot be derived. There are also no residual categories for families as households where relationships could not be determined were removed from family data.
'Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality' will have more information on missingness in household and family data. A link to the paper will be available in late 2024.
Overall quality rating for family type: High
Data has been evaluated to assess whether it meets quality standards and is suitable for use.
Three quality metrics contributed to the overall quality rating:
- data sources and coverage
- consistency and coherence
- accuracy of response.
The lowest rated metric determines the overall quality rating.
Note, all family variables share the same data sources and coverage, and accuracy of responses quality ratings.
Data quality assurance in the 2023 Census provides more information on the quality rating scale.
Data sources and coverage: High quality
The quality of all the data sources that contribute to the output for the variable have been assessed. To calculate a data sources and coverage quality score for a variable, each data source is rated and multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output.
The rating for a valid census response is defined as 1.00. Ratings for other sources are the best estimates available of their quality relative to a census response. Each source that contributes to the output for that variable is then multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output. The total score then determines the metric rating according to the following range:
- 98–100 = very high
- 95–<98 = high
- 90–<95 = moderate
- 75–<90 = poor
- <75 = very poor.
The main data source for all family variables is the household matrix; therefore, the data sources for the matrices are used to calculate the metric 1 rating for all the family variables. The sources of data for the matrix of a household are the units that make up the household, that is, whether the household is made up of census responses only, admin enumerations only, a mixture of both census responses and admin enumerations or is a blank household that has no individual unit sources (usual residents).
The proportion of households from census forms, low proportions from admin enumeration and mixed households, and low proportions of blank households resulted in a score of 0.96 leading to the quality rating of high.
| Data sources and coverage rating calculation for households in occupied private dwellings, 2023 Census | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Rating | Percent | Score contribution |
| Household from census forms | 1.00 | 92.27 | 0.92 |
| Admin enumerated household | 0.76 | 3.09 | 0.02 |
| Household from both census forms and admin enumeration | 1.00 | 1.17 | 0.01 |
| Blank household | 0.00 | 3.47 | 0.00 |
| Total | 100.00 | 0.96 | |
| Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not sum to the stated totals(s) or score contributions | |||
Consistency and coherence: High quality
Family type is consistent with expectations across nearly all consistency checks, with some minor variation from expectations or benchmarks which makes sense due to real-world change, incorporation of other sources of data, or a change in how the variable has been collected.
Accuracy of responses: High quality
Accuracy of responses were assessed through the quality of the methods for completing the relationships in the household matrices and also analysis of people missing from households.
Family type has only minor data quality issues. The accuracy of coding for the household matrix is high. Any issues with the data appear in a low number of cases.
There were significant changes introduced in the 2023 Census that impacted the quality of household matrices and therefore the quality of family variables. These were:
- improvements in the methodology for using admin relationships to construct families and households when census relationships were missing
- more extensive checks for errors, and higher quality manual corrections for households that had errors due to a dedicated and larger family coding manual intervention team
- higher quality repatriation of people to the dwelling they usually live in.
‘Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality’ will have more information on the data quality of household and family data. A link to the paper will be available in late 2024.
It is recommended that family type data can be used in a comparable manner to the 2018 and 2013 Censuses.
When using this data, users should be aware that:
- Not all people counted in the census usually resident population are part of the derivation of households and families, e.g. people who were admin enumerated at a meshblock rather than a dwelling level and people living in non-private dwellings. In addition, there are dwellings that were not occupied at the time of the census or not counted in the census. This means there will be families, extended families and households that are not counted in census outputs.
- Care should be taken when looking at the time series as there were changes to the collection strategy, processing system, and household and family coding methodology between the 2013 and 2018 Censuses, and further improvements made to these for the 2023 Census. These improvements mean household and family data is of a higher quality in the 2023 Census compared to previous censuses.
- The quality of relationships within households in the 2023 Census is higher than in previous censuses, including those for more complex households and households containing at least one member of the Māori or Pacific Peoples ethnic groups.
'Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality' will have more information on changes to the methodology and data quality of household and family data. A link to the paper will be available in late 2024.
To assess how the 2023 data for this concept aligns with the data from the previous censuses, use the links (these are for family type only):
- Families and households: family type - 2018 Information by variable
- Family type - 2013 Information by variable
Information about other family variables was not published in previous censuses.
Contact our Information centre for further information about using this concept.
Data quality processes for related variables
All family variables carry the same data sources and coverage and accuracy of responses quality ratings - both ratings are high for all outputs.
Included in the table below are the quality ratings for related family variables. Follow links for further definitions and classification information.
| Quality ratings for related variables | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Overall quality rating | Data sources and coverage | Consistency and coherence | Accuracy of responses |
| Age of youngest child in family | High | High | High | High |
| Age of youngest dependent child in family | High | High | High | High |
| Dependent child under 18 indicator | High | High | High | High |
| Dependent young person indicator | High | High | High | High |
| Family type by child dependency status | High | High | High | High |
| Family type by number of children | High | High | High | High |
| Family type by type of couple by gender | Moderate | High | Moderate | High |
| Gender of sole parent | High | High | High | High |
| Identification of individual's family nucleus | High | High | High | High |
| Individual's role in family nucleus | High | High | High | High |
| Number of adult children in family | High | High | High | High |
| Number of children in family | High | High | High | High |
| Number of dependent children in family | High | High | High | High |
| Number of people in family | High | High | High | High |
For variables using gender, proportions for couples where both people are of ‘another gender’ are slightly higher than expected when compared with data from household surveys. This impacts the rating of family type by type of couple by gender. As these couples make up a small population, some quality issues with a small number of responses may affect data. Inconsistencies may be apparent when using this data with small populations.
For individual's role in family nucleus:
The proportion of dependent young people increased less than expected however this may reflect the impact of the large increase in the proportion of non-dependent children (more individuals aged 18 – 24 living with their parents and working full time).
The count of dependent children under 5 has slightly increased which is inconsistent with expectations, but likely attributed to higher admin enumeration and improved coverage and data quality.
Accuracy has improved for counts in the following categories:
- Individuals aged over 65 years with a child role in the family nucleus.
- Grandparents with parental roles.
- Children of other parents. This led to fewer parents and couples under 15 years of age.
Recommendations for use and further information
It is recommended that the suite of family data can be used in a comparable manner to the 2018 and 2013 Censuses.
When using this data, users should be aware that:
- The ethnicity of a couple is derived from the ethnicity of all members in the family. The ethnicity of a family can be different to the people in a couple.
- The Māori descent of a couple is derived from the Māori descent of all members in the family. The Māori descent of a family can be different to the people in a couple.
- Family data based on gender is new to 2023 Census. Previous censuses use sex data. Gender and sex are conceptually different, so care should be taken when doing time series comparison.
- Care is recommended in analysis that uses couples data and sexual identity. Since both concepts are new, expectations around real-world consistency between these variables is not available.
- Caution is advised for couples containing people under the age of 15 years due to known data quality issues remaining in these cases.
- Alternative data sources like imputation have a lower level of accuracy at an individual level and lower accuracy for ‘another gender’. Care is recommended for analysis of small categories at lower levels of geography and detailed breakdowns because couples variables include gender from alternative data sources.
- Caution is advised for couples where both members are of another gender due to data quality issues remaining in these cases, and the lower accuracy of alternative data sources for this category.
- Caution is advised for analysing gender of sole parents below Regional Council or DHB level, due to imputation which introduces a degree of uncertainty. At higher levels of geography, the proportional distribution of ‘another gender’ category is considered accurate.
- The ‘Same-gender another gender’ couples category reflects that both members in the couple are of another gender. It is important to be aware that these partners can have different genders within another gender.
- For family type by type of couple by gender, it is estimated that counts are slightly inflated at a national level for couples where the same-gender is ‘another gender’ due to data quality issues.
- Individual’s role in family nucleus data has improved since 2018, however some households have been classified as residual due to data quality issues which will result in some missing information for individuals.
- Any families linked to these unidentifiable households will have family roles and nucleus status of individuals marked as unknown. These issues have led to more people with an unknown role or family nucleus compared to 2018.
- More people were counted as family members due to the improved admin data collection for the 2023 Census. This led to an increase in the number of children in families. Individuals over 17 years of age and males were particularly impacted by this.
- The issue of overcounting those aged over 65 years old with a child role in family nuclei has been resolved in the 2023 Census.
'Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality' will have more information on changes to the methodology and data quality of household and family data. A link to the paper will be available in late 2024.
