Glossary

This is a A-Z summary of key terms used in the Youth Statistics resource with which you may be unfamiliar. 

If you would like more information about specific terms, please check the Methodology report in the first instance; then contact the Ministry of Youth Development if you need more information.

Note: The Ministry of Social Development has developed a dedicated glossary of different terms used in discussions of sexuality and sexual and gender identity in New Zealand, which can be viewed via the link at the right.

  • Age-specific rate: a way of measuring the incidence of something in a specific age group, using a calculation in which the numerator and denominator both refer to the same age group.  An age-specific suicide rate for 15 to 19 year olds, for example, is the number of suicide deaths of young people aged 15 to 19, divided by the total number of young people aged 15 to 19.
  • Age-standardised rate: rates that have been adjusted to correct for the effect of the age distribution of the population, to allow different populations to be compared directly.  For example, the Māori population is a more youthful one than the European population, so circumstances that particularly affect youth populations will affect the Māori population more than the European population.  Age-standardising the populations corrects for this effect.  Age-standardisation is usually undertaken according to one of two population benchmarks: the WHO (World Health Organisation) World standard, or Segi’s World Population.
  • Asian (ethnic group): people who identify with an Asian ethnicity (for example, Chinese, Indian, Korean), with or without other ethnicities.   An ethnic Indian who was born and raised in Fiji will usually be classified as Asian, unless self-reported as Pacific. 
  • Assault mortality: death as a result of assault by another person or persons according to the following International Classification of Disease Codes: ICD-9, E960–E969 (up to 1999), ICD-10, X85–Y09 (from 2000).
  • Benefit: a non-repayable grant given paid the state to individuals, usually at regular intervals, to provide them with financial support.  Examples are the Unemployment Benefit, for job-seekers, and the Domestic Purposes Benefit, for those who are unable to work due to caregiving responsibilities for children or other dependents.  Most benefits in New Zealand are paid through Work and Income.  Information about the different types of benefit, and their eligibility criteria, is available on the Work and Income website at www.workandincome.govt.nz.
  • Census: a five-yearly survey of every individual and every household in New Zealand collecting a range of demographic and indicator data.  More information about the Census, including copies of the questionnaires, can be found at www.stats.govt.nz. 
  • Civil union: a legally recognised alternative to marriage that is available to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples (unlike marriage, which in New Zealand is only available to opposite-sex couples).  The first Civil Union took place in New Zealand in April 2005. 
  • Demographic: relating to the distribution of an entire population across high-level characteristics (e.g. age, sex, and ethnicity). 
  • District: a territorial authority that is neither wholly urban nor wholly rural and that is under the jurisdiction of a district council.  See also Territorial Authority.
  • Domestic Purposes Benefit: see Benefit.
  • Employed: working for pay (salary or wages) for at least one hour per week, as measured by the Household Labour Force Survey.  For more information about the survey, see the Methodology report and the Statistics New Zealand website, http://www.stats.govt.nz/datasets/work-income/household-labour-force-survey.htm.
  • Estimated resident population: an estimate of all people who usually live in a given area at a given date. The estimated resident population of New Zealand includes all residents present in New Zealand and counted by the census (census usually resident population count), residents who are temporarily overseas (who are not included in the census), and an adjustment for residents missed or counted more than once by the census (net census undercount). Visitors from overseas are excluded. For a sub-national area, the estimate excludes visitors from elsewhere in New Zealand (people who do not usually live in that area), but includes residents of that area who are temporarily elsewhere on census night (people who usually live in that area but are absent).
  • Ethnicity:  an ethnic group is made up of people who have some or all of the following characteristics:
    • a common proper name
    • one or more elements of common culture that need not be specified, but may include religion, customs or language
    • unique community of interests, feelings and actions
    • a shared sense of common origins or ancestry
    • a common geographic origin.
    • This definition is based on the work of A Smith (1986) The Ethnic Origins of Nations.  Ethnicity is self-perceived and people can belong to more than one ethnic group. People can identify with an ethnicity even though they may not be descended from ancestors with that ethnicity. Conversely, people may choose to not identify with an ethnicity even though they are descended from ancestors with that ethnicity. In Census data, ethnicity is identified by the person completing the census form. In the case of births and deaths, ethnicity is identified by the person completing the registration form. For births this is usually the parents, while for deaths this is most likely to be the funeral director (on the advice of a family member).
  • European (ethnic group): People who identify with a European ethnicity (for example, New Zealand European, English, Dutch), with or without other ethnicities.  The way that “New Zealander” was recorded in Census data changed in the 2006 Census: see the Methodology report and the Statistics New Zealand website, http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2006-census-information-about-data/information-by-variable/ethnicity.htm, for more information. 
  • General Practitioner (GP): the doctor that you would see first for non-emergency medical care, usually at a local health care centre.  For more information about the structure of primary health care delivery in New Zealand, see www.moh.govt.nz. 
  • GLBTI: a term used here to refer to a group of identities including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, takatāpui, intersex, fa’afafine, and queer people, and to others who do not fit into heterosexual or gender norms.  The Ministry of Social Development has developed a dedicated Glossary of different terms used in discussions of sexuality and sexual and gender identity in New Zealand, which can be viewed via the link on the top right .
  • Hazardous drinking / problem drinking: drinking “large amounts” of alcohol at least weekly.  “Large amounts” is characterised by WHO definitions as 6 standard drinks for men and 4 for women.  A standard drink is defined by the WHO as 10g (12.67ml) of pure (absolute) alcohol, approximately equivalent to one 330ml can of 4-percent beer or one 100ml glass of 12-percent wine.  More information about standard drinks and safe drinking levels can be found at the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand’s website, www.alac.org.nz.
  • Household crowding: a household requiring one or more additional bedrooms as defined by the Canadian National Occupancy Standard (CNOS). Information about CNOS and how it calculates crowding is available in the Methodology report and on the Statistics New Zealand website, www.stats.govt.nz/analytical-reports/housing-affordability-report/crowding.htm.
  • Household Labour Force Survey: a quarterly survey undertaken by Statistics New Zealand collecting information relating to the employed, the unemployed and those not in the labour force who comprise New Zealand’s working-age (15 years and over) population. More information about the survey can be found in the Methodology report and at http://www.stats.govt.nz/datasets/work-income/household-labour-force-survey.htm.
  • Inactivity / NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training): “inactivity” here includes all those aged 15 to 19 who are not employed, not in formal or informal education or training, and not caregiving for others.  This is one of many different measures used to identify inactivity, which differs from the NEET measure (Not in Education, Employment or Training) used by the OECD.  For example, a young person who with a long-term illness that prevents them from working or studying, or who is engaged in full-time caregiving for a young child, would be counted as NEET but not as “inactive”. 
  • Independent Youth Benefit: see Benefit. 
  • Indicator: a measurable quality, state or circumstance of an individual or group of individuals that can be used (particularly in combination) to assess wellbeing. 
  • Industry Training Organisations: industry-owned training establishments that develop unit-standard-based qualifications, arrange provision through tertiary providers and broker training for individual trainees.
  • Industry training: education oriented toward a specific profession, most of which occurs on the job, facilitated by Industry Training Organisations.  Industry training is assessed against national standards set by the industry, and earns credits and qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework.  It is open to all ages.
  • Invalids Benefit: see Benefit.
  • Low income household (for national data, 1982-2007): a household with real disposable (after-tax) income less than 60 percent of the national median, benchmarked at 1998, adjusted for inflation (backwards and forwards from 1998 using the Consumers Price Index) and equivalised for household size and composition, with 25 percent deducted for average housing costs. See also notes in the Methodology report.
  • Low income household (for regional data, 2006): a household with gross (before-tax) real income less than 60percent of the median national household income, benchmarked at 2001, adjusted for inflation and equivalised for household size and composition.  See also notes in the Methodology report.
  • Māori: (n) the indigenous people of New Zealand; (adj) of or pertaining to these people.
  • Māori (ethnic group): People who identify with the Māori ethnicity with or without other ethnicities.
  • Marae: a Māori meeting centre, consisting of an enclosed lawn or courtyard in front of a main meeting house or wharenui, often with a complex of small buildings on the same site.  (The word originally referred only to the courtyard, but is now commonly used to refer to the whole site.)  Marae play a vital role in the daily life of many Māori communities, and are also gathering places for significant Māori cultural events.
  • Mean: the average of a collection of data-points.  Note that it is possible for the mean not to be instantiated in a data sample; that is, it is possible that no individual data-point in a sample matches the average.  For example, a data sample of [1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 28] has a mean of 12, but the value 12 does not appear in the sample.
  • Median: the point in a collection of data-points at which 50 percent of the sample is higher and 50 percent is lower.  If there is no unique median, then a mean of the two middle numbers is usually taken.  In the data sample [1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 28], the values 7 and 9 share the median position, and so the median would usually be given as the mean of these two numbers (8).
  • Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) (ethnic group): people who identify with Middle Eastern, Latin American or African ethnicities, with or without other ethnicities. In Census data before 2006 these ethnicities were coded to the ‘Other’ ethnic group.
  • Modern Apprenticeships: a work-based education initiative available to young people aged 16 to 21 (with a small number of discretionary enrolments at older and younger ages) in which they can gain a National Qualifications Framework qualification through on-the-job learning, whilst earning a wage.  Modern Apprentices and their employed are supported by local Modern Apprenticeships Co-ordinators and are available in more than thirty industries.  More information can be found at www.modern-apprenticeships.co.nz.
  • National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA): the main national qualification toward which young people first earn credits as part of their compulsory schooling.  Level 1 of the NCEA represents the first qualification earned by most young people, being assessed in Year 11 of their compulsory schooling (age about 15).
  • National Qualifications Framework: the national structure that frames and coordinates the qualifications offered by education providers accredited by the NZQA.
  • NEET: see Inactivity.
  • New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA): the state body responsible for the accreditation, administration and regulation of institutions that provide assessment on the National Qualifications Framework.
  • New Zealander (ethnic group): people who identify their ethnicity as New Zealander, with or without other ethnicities.  On Census forms, a “New Zealander” ethnicity is not included as a tick-box option, but individuals can choose to tick “other” and manually specify “New Zealander” as their ethnic group.  This mode of classification has become more common over time and this led to a change in the way that Census ethnicity data was reported from Census 2006: see the Methodology report and the Statistics New Zealand website, http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2006-census-information-about-data/information-by-variable/ethnicity.htm, for more information. 
  • Not In the Labour Force (NILF): of working age (15 to 64) but neither working nor available for paid work.  This group can include students, people with chronic illnesses that prevent them from working, or those caring for babies, and its members are not included in measures of unemployment.
  • Non-Benefit Support: income support provided through Work and Income to assist individuals (including those not eligible for other benefits) with specific expenses.  An example is the Accommodation Supplement.  More information is available at www.workandincome.govt.nz. 
  • Obesity: a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 30 for European and Other Ethnicities and greater than 32 for Māori and Pacific peoples.  BMI is calculated by dividing an individual’s weight in kilograms by their height (m) squared.  For example, if someone weighs 65kg and their height is 1.7m, then their BMI is 65 ÷ (1.7 x 1.7), or 22.5.  More information can be found at http://www.moh.govt.nz, keyword “BMI”. 
  • Pacific peoples/Pacific Islander/Pasifika/Polynesian: terms used to describe or identify people living in New Zealand who have migrated from the Pacific Islands (e.g. Tonga, Samoa, Fiji) or who identify with the Pacific Islands because of ancestry or heritage.  There is no officially sanctioned term to describe this group of people.  Since 1994, the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs has used the term "Pacific peoples" to describe this group.  This term "Pacific peoples" does not refer to a single ethnicity, nationality or culture.  The term is one of convenience used to encompass a diverse range of peoples from the South Pacific region. 
  • Pacific (ethnic group): People who identify with a Pacific ethnicity (for example, Samoan, Tongan), with or without other ethnicities.
  • Pākehā: the Māori name, in common usage, for New Zealanders of European heritage (often used as a blanket term to refer to fair-skinned New Zealanders).
  • Parent: this definition varies according to the indicator used, and explanations are given at each point.  In Census 2006 data on living arrangements, the definition is as follows (quoted from Statistics New Zealand): “A ‘parent’ is the mother, father (natural, step, adopted or foster), or ‘person in a parent role’ of a ‘child in a family nucleus’. A ‘person in a parent role’ is a person who is not a mother or father (natural, step, adopted or foster) of the young person (as defined by the survey) but who nevertheless usually resides with that young person.”
  • Polytechnics: tertiary institutions that offer mainly vocational or technical education and training, although some polytechnics in New Zealand offer courses in more traditionally academic areas, and some can award degrees.
  • Problem drinking: see Hazardous drinking.
  • Private Training Establishments: non-state-owned tertiary institutions offering a wide range of academic and, in particular, vocational studies, many of which are registered to provide qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework.
  • Regions: 16 areas covering all of New Zealand, each covering one or more Territorial Authority (though not with contiguous boundaries; for example, the Taupo region partly covers four different Territorial Authorities).  Regions are governed by Regional Councils, the first tier of local government in New Zealand.  Note that some government departments use different regional boundaries for administrative purposes (e.g. the Electoral Commission refers to electorate boundaries; the Ministry of Social Development’s Work and Income service line has own 11 regional offices; the Ministry of Health uses District Health Board boundaries).
  • Sexual orientation: the direction of a person’s sexuality relative to their own sex, usually classified according to the sex or gender of the people an individual finds sexually attractive.  For more information, see the Ministry of Social Development’s dedicated Glossary of different terms used in discussions of sexuality and sexual and gender identity in New Zealand, which can be viewed via the link on the top right-hand side of this page.
  • Sickness Benefit: see Benefit.
  • Statistics New Zealand: the government department that administers the Statistics Act 1975 and is New Zealand’s main source of official statistics.
  • Te reo Māori: the Māori language.
  • Territorial Authorities (TAs, or Territorial Local Authorities, TLAs): the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils, and comprising 16 City Councils, 58 District Councils and the Chatham Islands Council.  The boundaries of these 73 Territorial Authorities are defined with consideration for the “community of interest”, rather than merely geographical factors.  Territorial Authorities are responsible for the management of roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters.  Their boundaries are not contiguous with those of regions; for example, the Taupo region partly covers four different Territorial Authorities. 
  • Tertiary education: education that is designed to advance beyond secondary-school level.  Tertiary education may be undertaken at Industry Training Organisations, Universities, Wānanga or Private Training Establishments, including work-based training undertaken through these institutions, and may be primarily academic or primarily work-focused in character, or anywhere in between. 
  • Unemployed: not employed, but actively seeking and available for paid work.  Those who are “Not In the Labour Force” (e.g. students, people with chronic illnesses that prevent them from working, or those caring for infants) are not counted as unemployed. 
  • Unemployment Benefit: see Benefit.
  • Unit standards: industry-based units of qualification, each representing competency in or mastery of a particular skill.  Unit standards amass to form qualifications.
  • Wānanga (sing./pl.): Māori tertiary training institution/s.
  • Whānau: a Māori term for the extended family.
  • Writ day: the day on which the Governor-General issues a writ (written instruction) to the Chief Electoral Officer to hold a general election, by-election, or referendum. In the case of a General Election, writ day comes at most one week after Parliament is dissolved in preparation for the election.
  • Youth / young person: the Ministry of Youth Development defines its target population as aged 12 to 24, but on this website different measures are used for different indicators as appropriate and as data collection allows.  These age ranges are identified in the description of each indicator.