Data Iwi Leaders Group and Te Kāhui Raraunga, Lead Technician, Kirikowhai Mikaere.
Photo: Provided / Te Kāhui Raraunga

For the first time, data on Māori families and households were published as official census statistics.

Data from the 2023 Census was released on Te Whata this week, showing that the majority of Māori whānau live in single-family households, and 86.9 per cent of Māori whānau had two to four family members.

Data Iwi Leaders Group and Te Kāhui Raraunga lead technician Kirikowhai Mikaere said the datasets unlocked the ability of iwi Māori to plan for the future housing needs of their collective.

“As of today, iwi Māori have up-to-date, high-quality data on how people in their collective live, including details on household composition, income and whether they have access to the things they need to live well, such as clean water and electricity,” she said.

“These statistics are more than numbers on a page – they provide meaningful insights into the housing requirements of our people and enable the development of homes that are fit for the future and beyond.”

The release is the first of the family and household statistics released since the 2023 census, coming a week before full population statistics are scheduled for release by Stats NZ.

Te Kāhui Raraunga chair Rahui Papa
Photo: Provided / Te Kāhui Raraunga

Te Kāhui Raraunga President Rahui Papa said putting iwi Māori data in the hands of iwi Māori first was an essential part of good data governance.

“Maori data is a taonga tuku iho. They must be carefully tended to for the benefit of iwi, hapū and whānau Māori,” Pope said.

“Putting iwi Māori data in the hands of iwi Māori first removes a barrier to accessing our data and also ensures that there is a Māori view, a Māori lens, to how data information is presented.”

Housing statistics

Data from the 2023 Census is available on Te Whata, a by iwi, for iwi data platform developed by Te Kāhui Raraunga, the operational arm of the Data Iwi Leaders Group.

It showed 27.5% of Maori owned or part-owned their own home in 2023 – down from 31.2% of Maori a decade earlier.

Almost nine in 10 (88.4%) Māori lived in a whānau household, with only 5.9% living in a one-person household.

A third (33%) of Māori lived in homes that were sometimes or always wet in 2023.

One in five (21.7 per cent) Māori lived in overcrowded homes, defined as homes where one or two extra bedrooms were needed.