A statistical person register in New Zealand: Progress and challenges

Abstract

This paper outlines the progress and challenges for Stats NZ in the development of a base Statistical Person Register (SPR) as part of a broader register-based statistical system. Administrative data becomes far more powerful if different types of data and data across different domains can be seamlessly integrated. Stats NZ is working towards a register based statistical system where data from many sources is integrated around three ‘base statistical registers’ for businesses, location and people. The base register for people is the least developed of these core components. This paper describes the challenges Stats NZ have in deriving an SPR in the New Zealand context where there is no national unique person identifier, and no national administrative register.

We discuss progress and challenges in these broad areas: methodology, technology, trust and confidence, and the Māori world view. Methodological challenges arise from the need for probabilistic record linkage of several data sources to achieve high coverage. Stats NZ faces technological issues involved with the evolution from existing data systems that have been built over time without an overall integrated design. Most importantly, it is essential that Stats NZ retains trust and confidence as an official statistics agency and develops connections with Māori organisations and communities while developing these new data assets.