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2011 Census: ‘You Count’

2011 Census: ‘You Count’

Statistics New Zealand has a message for the Asian community for its 2011 Census: “You Count”.

The census will count every person in New Zealand on Tuesday, 8 March. Everyone in New Zealand on census day, including overseas visitors, must complete a census form. It is the law.

The 2011 Census advertising campaign begins today (Wednesday, 9 February), with the overarching message: “You Count”.

Census information helps determine how billions of dollars of government funding is spent in the community.

“Our population is larger today then it’s ever been.  Therefore, it’s more important than ever that we count everyone, so that everyone in New Zealand can get the services they need, in the right places,” says 2011 Census General Manager Carol Slappendel.

“The You Count campaign focuses on ordinary people and what’s important to them. It’s designed to get people thinking about the value of census and how it helps shape their future,” she said.

There were 354,552 Asian people in New Zealand in 2006 (at the time of the last census) – about 9% of the population. This community is growing, and it is important to know by how much, so resources are properly allocated.

But some Asian people were not counted in the last census, because many didn’t know they had to fill in the census forms. Asian people had the highest numbers of those not counted of any ethnic group.

This means their communities may be missing out on what they’re entitled to. The census information is used to help decide funding for things like schools, roads, and health care. It can be used by community groups to apply for resources such as community centres and parks.

Official census collectors will deliver the census forms to every household in the two weeks before census day, or they can be filled in online.

For more information about the census, or to fill in your census forms online, go towww.census.govt.nz

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  • Sanjay Potdar
    February 8, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Thank you for a lovely news website with such a diverse range of topics for NRIs and all Indians living in a foreign land. We miss India so much, but quality publications like this make sure that we are always in touch with our country of love.