Stats NZ said as of 1 May, it had had 4.41 million forms back in total. Photo: Stats NZ
The tally of Māori who have submitted their census forms is at a low 70 percent, and a similar percentage for Pasifika, according to raw Stats NZ figures.
Thursday 4 May is the last day that people can complete their census forms before they get a Final Notice that raises the risk of a fine.
Stats NZ said as of 1 May, it had had 4.41 million forms back in total.
It only has raw figures, but these show for Māori, 30 percent of forms still had not come back - that amounts to 268,000 forms.
For Pasifika, 27 percent had yet to come back.
The last census in 2018 is accepted as a failure because under 70 percent for Māori and Pasifika responded.
Even when a new method was applied that boosted to the mid-70 percentages, but this was still "unacceptably low", Stats NZ admitted in 2019.
As to the latest counts, "this is a raw data tally before any processing of Census forms. It is not a response rate - the response rate is an official measure confirmed by the Post-enumeration Survey that happens after the Census", Stats NZ said.
"The 2023 Census tally is not an official figure and should not be used for decision making."