18 May 2021
Ben Moskovitz
[FYI request #15227 email]
Dear Ben,
Official Information Act request
Thank you for your Official Information Act request, received on 21 April 2021. In your request, you
have asked for the fol owing information:
‘What percentage of New Zealanders doesn't speak English as a first language? Of those that
don't speak english as a first language, what are their first languages?’
Unfortunately, Stats NZ is unable to provide you with the exact information being requested. Our
Census question asks about languages that people can conduct conversations in on every day. It
means that we do not know which is someone’s
‘first’ language. A person may also have up to 6
languages recorded.
However, 2.5 percent of the people (115,836) who gave at least one language in response to the
question gave a language other than English and did not state that they also speak English. We
have provided more information in the separate spreadsheet attached, detaling recorded
languages in table form from the 2018 Census - distinguished by whether they speak English as
shown in column B or not as in C. Since this is total response data, meaning a person is counted for
each specified language, the total number of people with at least one language is stated in row
197. If you have any questions about this data, please feel free to get in touch.
You have the right, by way of complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the
Act, to seek an investigation and review of this response to your request.
Stats NZ intends to publish its response to your request made under the Act on the Stats NZ website.
This letter, with your personal details removed, will be published in its entirety. Consistent with the
Act, publishing responses increases the availability of information to the public and helps promote
balanced public debate.
Yours sincerely,
Stallah Valaau
Advisor – Office of the Chief Executive
Stats NZ
Document Outline
