335. This chapter sets out general demographic data about the Inquiry period and its three key cohorts. This data is separate from any data about the care settings and the Inquiry’s collected data.

Raraunga e hāngai ana ki te iwi Māori
Data relating to Māori

336. The Māori population increased from 1950 to 1999, both in numbers and as a proportion of Aotearoa New Zealand’s total population. The 1951 census recorded almost 6 percent of the population as Māori[427] compared to almost 9 percent in 1976, and 14 percent in 1996.[428] Questions relating to ethnicity asked in the census changed during the Inquiry period, impacting who was counted as Māori.

337. For much of the Inquiry period, blood percentage, rather than Māori concepts of whakapapa, were used to define who was counted as Māori in the census. For example, figures prior to 1981 comprised people who “specified themselves as half or more New Zealand Māori”. [429]

338. Māori had a disproportionately young population during this time. In 1966, over half (50.3 percent) of the Māori population were under 15 years old, compared with 32.6 percent of the total population being under 15 years old.[430]

339. In his evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal, statistician Len Cook explained that this meant “for every Māori person aged 65 and over, there were 25 children aged under 15 years”.[431] He also noted that “the fastest growth in the number of Māori children aged under 15 occurred when their number doubled from 1951 and 1966”.[432] By 1996 this growth had slowed, with 37.5 percent of Māori aged under 15, compared with 19.3 percent of people with a European background.[433]

Ngā raraunga e hāngai ana ki te hunga Turi, whaikaha me te hunga e rongo ana i te wairangitanga
Data relating to Deaf, disabled people, and people experiencing mental distress

340. This Inquiry received little evidence of reliable data about Deaf, disabled people and people experiencing mental distress before or during the Inquiry period. The most recent data prior to the Inquiry period was the 1916 census.[434] This census recorded information on:

• deaf-mutism
• blindness
• feeble-mindedness
• lunacy (information provided by mental-hospital authorities).[435]

341. Of the total population in 1916, 6,359 people (or 5.78 people in every 1,000) were recorded as having one or more of these impairments. Of this group 206 people were recorded as deaf-mutes, 566 people recorded as blind, 4,275 people recorded as lunatics and 1,312 people recorded as feeble-minded.[436]

342. It was noted there was a general increase in all numbers apart from deaf-mutes and that this was due largely to “the direct and indirect effects of the [First World] war”.[437]

343. During the Inquiry period, some care settings recorded some data on impairments, but after 1916 little national information was recorded in the Aotearoa New Zealand census until 1996. The 1996 census provided the ability for people to record themselves or dependents as disabled for the first time since 1916.[438]

344. By 1996 out of a total of population of 3,618,303 people, 517,212 (14 percent of the population) indicated they or their dependents were disabled. Of this, 411,477 indicated they or their dependents had a long-term disability.[439]

Raraunga e hāngai ana ki ngā iwi Pasifika
Data relating to Pacific Peoples

345. The Pacific population in Aotearoa New Zealand increased during the Inquiry period, influenced by migration from Pacific islands and establishment of Pacific communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Pacific population went from 0.2 percent of the total population in 1951, to almost 2 percent in 1976 and 4.8 percent in 1996.[440]

346. Pacific Peoples also had a young population during the Inquiry period with 41.3 percent under 15 years old in 1981 and 35.1 percent under 15 years old in 1996.[441] This, alongside racism and attitudes to poverty at the time, increased the visibility of Pacific children and young people to authorities and their likelihood being taken into care.

Raraunga e hāngai ana ki ngā tūhono whakapono
Data relating to religious affiliation

347. In general, there were significant changes in the religious landscape during the Inquiry period. In the 1950s, Christianity was the main religion in Aotearoa New Zealand, with about 90 percent of the population identifying as Christian. [442]

348. This figure declined over the Inquiry period, with the 1996 census recording about 56 percent identifying as Christian.[443] At the same time, the proportion of New Zealanders reporting they had no religion increased from 1 percent in 1951 to 25 percent in 1996.[444]

Footnotes

[427] Stats NZ, New Zealand Official Yearbook 1978, Population (1978).