1916 New Zealand census

Last updated

Sixteenth census of
the Dominion of New Zealand

  1911 15 October 1916;107 years ago (1916-10-15)1921 

General information
CountryDominion of New Zealand, British Empire
Authority Statistics New Zealand
Website stats.govt.nz (1916)
Results
Total population1,149,225 [1]
1,162,022 [2]
1,162,293 [3] (Increase2.svg 8.59%)
Most populous provincial district Auckland (308,766)
Least populous provincial district Westland (15,502)

The 1916 New Zealand census was the sixteenth national population census. The day used for the census was Sunday, 15 October 1916. [4] The census of the Dominion of New Zealand revealed a total population of 1,149,225 - an overall increase of 90,981 or 8.59% over the 1911 census figure. [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Enumeration

In 1916 a new departure was made in connection with the enumeration of Māori. The Māori census counted 49,776 (excludes Māori counted in the European census) for a total of 52,997, fewer than 1,900 reside in the South Island. [8] [9] It was decided to enumerate the (South Island) Māori with the enumeration of the European population, the same schedules being used and the work done by the same Enumerators and Sub-Enumerators as for the European population. The North Island Māori census, however, was also taken in October.

Cost

The census of 1916 witnessed an important innovation in respect of the mode of distribution and collection of the census schedules, resulting in a considerable saving of expense. This was the substitution of the machinery of the Post Office for the old system of special Enumerators.

Not only was the work performed more economically (the cost of collection was approximately £20,600 in 1911 and £17,500 in 1916), but the schedules were in much better condition than at any previous census, the proportion of incomplete entries being infinitesimal, and the necessity for queries being reduced to practically nil. A point in connection with the 1916 census was the increase in the number of Enumerators' districts—ninety-five, as compared with fifty-nine in 1911—and it is probable that the consequential reduction in the average size of the districts made for increased efficiency.

Summary

The results of the census covered these topics: (Separate Volumes) (published 1920) [10]

Appendix A Maori Census
Appendix B Population of Cook and Other Annexed Pacific Islands*
Appendix C Religious Denominations (Places of Worship etc.) and Libraries
Appendix D Census of Industrial Manufacture*
Appendix E Poultry and Bees

Population and dwellings

The principal natural divisions in New Zealand are the North, South, and Stewart Islands. These contain nearly the whole population of European descent, the Cook and other annexed islands being inhabited almost solely by Natives.
The populations of the various provincial districts are as follows: [11]

Provincial District MalesFemalesTotal
Auckland 155,298153,468308,766
Taranaki 28,77327,15055,925
Hawke's Bay 27,19427,07354,267
Wellington 119,572112,542232,114
Total, North Island 330,839320,233651,072
Marlborough 8,5068,10216,608
Nelson 22,41520,83643,251
Westland 8,0887,41415,502
Canterbury 88,08593,784181,869
Otago
     Otago Portion63,54667,972131,518
     Southland Portion 30,29629,33359,629
Total, South Island^220,936227,441448,377
Flag of New Zealand.svg Dominion of New Zealand551,771547,6741,099,449

Distribution

DistributionMalesFemalesTotal
Population of the Dominiona551,775547,6741,099,449
Māori populationb25,93123,84049,771
     Morioris at Chatham Islands 235
Totals, New Zealand577,715571,5101,149,225

a European, (Māori living as Europeans) and others. (excluding Māori and residents of Cook and other Pacific islands).
b Includes 3,529 half-castes living as Māoris.

Population of Cook and other annexed islands6,5536,24412,797
Total, (excluding Samoa)584,261577,7611,162,022
Samoa (Expeditionary Force and New Zealand civilians)24625271
Total, Pacific Islands584,507577,7861,162,293
Source: [12] [13] [14]

Notes: † Includes 112 soldiers in camp in New Zealand.

Birthplace

Question 8 on the census form asked the question: (a.) Country where born... (not county, town or subdivision.) If born outside the British Empire or if born at sea, add "P." if a British subject by parentage, add "N". if a British subject by nationalization. [15] The figures show that of the total population of specified birthplace (1,097,841), 1,077,808, or 98.17 per cent., were born on British soil, 1.70 per cent, on foreign soil, and 0.13 per cent, at sea. [16] For the overseas-born census usually resident population:

CountryPopulationPercent (%)
Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand-born 794,139 72.34
Totals, Overseas-born305,31027.66
Flag of England.svg England 140,99712.84
Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 51,9514.73
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Commonwealth of Australia 45,5854.15
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ireland 37,3803.40
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales 2,1970.20
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Other British possessions 5,5590.51
    Totals, British soil 1,077,80898.17
Flag of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918).svg Austria-Hungary 2,3650.22
Flag of the German Empire.svg German Empire 2,9990.27
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 2,2440.20
Flag of the Empire of China 1915-1916.svg Chinese Empire 2,0410.19
Other foreign countries9,0070.82
Total foreign18,6561.70
At sea 1,3770.13
Not stated1,608-
Total that specified a birthplace1,097,841100.0
New Zealand1,099,449100.0

Race

The census form asked the question (a.) Country where born... (b.) Race. [17] [18] [19] [20]

RaceMalesFemalesPopulation %
European 547,505545,5191,093,02495.11
Māori 27,44625,55152,9974.61
Others2,7574473,2040.28
     Chinese 2,0171302,147-
     Syrians 267192459-
     Hindus 16714181-
     Negroes791695-
     Japanese 55459-
New Zealand577,715571,5101,149,225100.0

Māori census

LocationTotal population
North Island 47,545
South Island 1,590
Stewart Island 4
Chatham Islands
     Māoris253
     Morioris 5
Māori wives living with European husbands379
Totals, New Zealand49,776
Source: (excludes Māori living as Europeans.) [21]

Religion

Members of Christian denominations formed 95.71 per cent. of those who made answer to the inquiry at the last census; non-Christian sects were 0.44 per cent.; and those who described themselves as of no religion 0.39 per cent.; whilst "indefinite" religions constituted 1.12 per cent.

Denomination 1916 census
NumberPercentage
Christian 1,048,47995.71%
     Church of England 459,02142.90%
     Presbyterians 260,65924.36%
     Methodists 106,0249.91%
     Baptists 20,8721.95%
     Congregationalists 8,2210.77%
     Lutherans 3,5300.33%
     Salvation Army 10,0040.94%
     Brethren 9,7580.91%
     Church of Christ 9,2490.86%
     Unitarians 1,4020.13%
     Society of Friends 4310.04%
     Roman; Catholics and Catholics undefined 151,60514.17%
    Other Christians7,7030.72%
Hebrews 2,3410.22%
Other specified religions14,8171.39%
No religion4,3110.40%
Totals, specified religions1,069,948100.00%
Object to state25,577-
Unspecified3,924-
Grand totals, New Zealand1,099,449-

Notes

  1. Excludes members of armed forces absent overseas.
  2. The population including the Cook and other annexed Pacific islands raises to 1,162,022.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cook Islands</span> Country in the South Pacific Ocean

The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 236.7 square kilometres (91 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of New Zealand</span>

The demographics of New Zealand encompass the gender, ethnic, religious, geographic, and economic backgrounds of the 5.1 million people living in New Zealand. New Zealanders predominantly live in urban areas on the North Island. The five largest cities are Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Tauranga. Few New Zealanders live on New Zealand's smaller islands. Waiheke Island is easily the most populated smaller island with 9,420 residents, while Great Barrier Island, the Chatham and Pitt Islands, and Stewart Island each have populations below 1,000. New Zealand is part of a realm and most people born in the realm's external territories of Tokelau, the Ross Dependency, the Cook Islands and Niue are entitled to New Zealand passports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand census</span> National population and housing census

The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is a national population and housing census conducted by government department Statistics New Zealand every five years. There have been 34 censuses since 1851. In addition to providing detailed information about national demographics, the results of the census play an important part in the calculation of resource allocation to local service providers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tolaga Bay</span> Town in Gisborne District, New Zealand

Tolaga Bay is both a bay and small town on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island located 45 kilometres northeast of Gisborne and 30 kilometres south of Tokomaru Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitianga</span> Town in Waikato, New Zealand

Whitianga is a town on the Coromandel Peninsula, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is located on Mercury Bay, on the northeastern coast of the peninsula. The town has a permanent population of 6,440 as of June 2023, making it the second-largest town on the Coromandel Peninsula behind Thames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealanders</span> People from New Zealand

New Zealanders, colloquially known as Kiwis, are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language. People of various ethnicities and national origins are citizens of New Zealand, governed by its nationality law.

Waharoa is a rural community in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located 7 km north of Matamata, and is part of the Matamata-Piako District. It is located at the junction of the Kinleith Branch railway and the East Coast Main Trunk Railway. State Highway 27 runs through the town, which is serviced by several shops and cafes and by a petrol station. Matamata Airport is just over 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Waharoa.

New Zealanders of European descent are mostly of British and Irish ancestry, with significantly smaller percentages of other European ancestries such as Germans, Poles, French, Dutch, Croats and other South Slavs, Greeks, and Scandinavians. European New Zealanders are also known by the Māori-language loanword Pākehā.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cook, Wellington</span> Suburb of Wellington City, New Zealand

Mount Cook is an inner suburb of the metropolitan area of Wellington, The North Island, New Zealand, 1.74 km dead south of Wellington's Central Business District. Its local constituency area is the Wellington Central, and is part of the City of Wellington local government area. The suburb stands on the southern fringe of the central city alongside Te Aro and to the north of Newtown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand</span> Island country in the southwest Pacific Ocean

New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island and the South Island —and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.

Statistics Canada conducts a national census of population and census of agriculture every five years and releases the data with a two-year lag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in New Zealand</span>

Religion in New Zealand encompasses a wide range of groups and beliefs. New Zealand has no state religion or established church and freedom of religion has been protected since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland, New Zealand</span> Place in Northland Region, New Zealand

Portland is a locality on the western side of Whangarei Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. Whangarei is about 10 km to the north. Tikorangi is a hill to the west with a summit 161 m above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cook Islanders</span> Polynesian ethnic group from the Cook Islands

Cook Islanders are residents of the Cook Islands, which is composed of 15 islands and atolls in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Cook Islands Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Cook Islands, although more Cook Islands Māori currently reside in New Zealand than the Cook Islands. Originating from Tahitian settlers in the sixth century, the Cook Islands Māori bear cultural affinities with New Zealand Māori and Tahitian Mā'ohi, although they also exhibit a unique culture and developed their own language, which is currently recognized as one of two official languages in the Cook Islands, according to the Te Reo Maori Act of 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Māori people</span> Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand

Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walton, New Zealand</span> Locality in Waikato, New Zealand

Walton is a settlement in New Zealand. It is sited at the junction of Walton Road and Morrinsville Walton Road, in the Central Waikato Region.

The 1911 New Zealand census was New Zealand's fifteenth national census. The day used for the census was Sunday, 2 April 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Māori history</span> History of Māori

The history of the Māori began with the arrival of Polynesian settlers in New Zealand, in a series of ocean migrations in canoes starting from the late 13th or early 14th centuries. Over several centuries of isolation, the Polynesian settlers formed a distinct culture that became known as the Māori.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasifika New Zealanders</span> Ethnic group in New Zealand

Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands outside of New Zealand itself. They form the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country, after European descendants, indigenous Māori, and Asian New Zealanders. There are over 380,000 Pasifika people in New Zealand, with the majority living in Auckland. 8% of the population of New Zealand identifies as being of Pacific origin.

References

  1. Total and Māori populations, 1858–2013 Censuses of Population and Dwellings Archived 26 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine (Table 4)
  2. REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF A CENSUS OF THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND TAKEN FOR THE NIGHT OF THE 15th OCTOBER, 1916.
  3. CENSUS, 1916. RETURN SHOWING THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION (EXCLUSIVE OF MAORIS AND THE POPULATION OF THE ANNEXED PACIFIC ISLANDS), WITH DETAILS FOR COUNTIES, BOROUGHS, ELECTORAL DISTRICTS, ETC.
  4. "Dates of New Zealand censuses since 1851". Stats.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  5. Total and Māori populations, 1858–2013 Censuses of Population and Dwellings Archived 26 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine (Table 4)
  6. REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF A CENSUS OF THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND TAKEN FOR THE NIGHT OF THE 15th OCTOBER, 1916.
  7. CENSUS, 1916. RETURN SHOWING THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION (EXCLUSIVE OF MAORIS AND THE POPULATION OF THE ANNEXED PACIFIC ISLANDS), WITH DETAILS FOR COUNTIES, BOROUGHS, ELECTORAL DISTRICTS, ETC.
  8. May the People Live: A History of Maori Health Development 1900-1920 By Raeburn Lange
  9. Census of the Maori Population 1916
  10. Chapter 6: Census of Population and Dwellings pp 46–75
  11. REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF A CENSUS OF THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND TAKEN FOR THE NIGHT OF THE 15th OCTOBER, 1916.
  12. REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF A CENSUS OF THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND TAKEN FOR THE NIGHT OF THE 15th OCTOBER, 1916.
  13. CENSUS, 1916. RETURN SHOWING THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION (EXCLUSIVE OF MAORIS AND THE POPULATION OF THE ANNEXED PACIFIC ISLANDS), WITH DETAILS FOR COUNTIES, BOROUGHS, ELECTORAL DISTRICTS, ETC.
  14. New Zealand Official Yearbook 1997 (Section -Population, age, sex)
  15. "Census question regarding ethnicity, 1916–2006". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  16. "REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF A CENSUS OF THE POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND TAKEN FOR THE NIGHT OF THE 15th OCTOBER, 1916". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  17. "Census question regarding ethnicity 1916–2006". teara.gov.nz. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  18. "DOMINION POPULATION COMMITTEE (REPORTS OF THE) (Mr. James Thorn, Chairman)]". p. 18. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  19. "New Zealand Census and Statistics Dept 1926" . Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  20. "New Zealand Official Yearbook 1997 (Section -Population, age, sex)" . Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  21. Census of the Maori Population October 1916