Timeframe
2016–2025
Funding
Faculty Research Development Fund
COMPASS staff
Roy Lay-Yee
Martin von Randow
Collaborators
University of Auckland
Louisa Buckingham
Description
The main objective of this work was to provide socioeconomic profiles for languages with more than 10,000 speakers as at the 2013 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings. These were then compared with the profiles for those same languages at each census back to 1996, which was the first time languages spoken were asked about in the census.
In addition to this cross-sectional analysis, we used StatsNZ’s New Zealand Longitudinal Census (NZLC) to follow specific language cohorts from 1996 to 2006. COMPASS had previously constructed bias weights for use in analysis of the NZLC but these were done prior to 2013, so we did not extend this part of the analysis.
This project kicked off again when we gained research access to the 2018 Census and four additional languages that had then passed the criterion of 10,000 speakers were added to the analysis, including comparisons all the way back to 1996. This also added regional analysis to the mix – specifically looking at languages spoken in different parts of Auckland, for which we established a custom set of around 60 geographical areas.
Another grant was secured in 2024 to extend analysis to the 2023 Census, and this time six further languages were added in. The analysis plan has also been extended to look at similar profiles for religious groups and to look more deeply at geographic breakdowns.