IDI DIA Life Event data

Series

Title

^en-NZ

Abstract

DIA provides life event data to Statistics NZ for integration into the IDI. The data provided pertains to births, deaths, marriages, and civil unions that have been registered in New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs Life Event (DIA) data documents the content of the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Unions tables that the DIA provides to Stats NZ to use in the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The DIA datasets contain administrative data collected from 1840 (Births, Deaths, Marriages) and 2005 (Civil Unions) for life event information related to births, deaths, marriages, and civil unions that have been registered in New Zealand. The DIA registration system is event-based rather than person-centric. The database does not link a person across different events (eg between marriage and death), in part due to legislative limitations. The exception is NZ-registered births and NZ-registered deaths which are linked when a match is found. Name changes registered in New Zealand are also added to birth records if the person is NZ-born (name changes are used by Statistics NZ to assist in linking individual’s data within the IDI but are not provided to researchers for reasons of privacy).

^en-NZ

Purpose

This dictionary provides information on the variables contained in the datasets including technical information and descriptions. The dictionary also provides encyclopaedic information on concepts, policies, and other high-level information relevant to this dataset. Use this data dictionary if you are interested in understanding and accessing DIA data in the IDI for your research.

^en-NZ

Universe

IDI DIA Life Event Data population ^en-NZ

Significant events impacting this study series

As DIA data is event-based not person-centric, Statistics NZ matches individuals across events and assigns each individual a unique identifier in the IDI. Unique identifiers are allocated to the key individuals on each record – the child and parents on the birth records, the deceased, their parents and partners on the death record, and the partners and their parents on the marriage and civil union records. Record types and missing variables In 1998 the DIA moved to digital storage of paper records. This was referred to as the Record Back Capture Project and ran between 1999 and 2001. Due to the large number of records that needed to be transferred, only a limited number of variables were included in each digital record. For events occurring after this digital capture, the full range of variables is recorded in the digital record. Some pre-1998 paper records have been accessed since the Record Back Capture Project. In these instances, the digital record may have been updated to include additional information from the paper record. The data records are defined as either Type I, Type U or Type S, depending on the completeness of the digital record. Specifically: Type I data relates to pre-1998 records that have not been amended since 1998. Type U data relates to pre-1998 records where a certificate has been ordered since the creation of the record during the Record Back Capture Project between 1999 and 2001 (Type I data).

Type S data relates to post-1998 records and any pre-1998 records that have been modified since the Type I data was created (eg due to a name change or to correct an error).

^en-NZ