NZ Government Busts Population Myths

By /
Awesome find from Llew who discovered the cracking Myth Busters at the NZ Governments Population and Sustainable Development site.

How cool that the dusty old beaurocrats are able to use popular culture to get their message across ... ok, ok, civil servants don't go to work in bowler hats any more but it still hard to have public facing fun in any government - top work people!
Analysts in the Population Statistics Unit hear often repeated statements that make us:
  • shake our heads in despair
  • scratch our heads in thought
  • or just yell no!
On these pages we will examine the stories behind some of the common "population myths" (facts, fudges and fallacies) and subject them to a range of ingenious tests. We may also throw out a few challenges to our fellow analysts to provide evidence to support or refute claims linking population trends with economic trends.

We hope to clarify some areas of confusion, bury some misconceptions and encourage some debate.

Myth 1: Half of all marriages end in divorce

Myth 2: There was a surge of returning New Zealanders after 9/11

Myth 3: "The browning of New Zealand"

Myth 4: New Zealand women are now having their first baby at age 30

Myth 5: New Zealand's population is only growing because of migration

Myth 6: "In 2003 four of every five pregnant Asian women aborted their babies"

Myth 7: The average life expectancy of males is 6 years less than females

Myth 8: New Zealand has 3 million people and 60 million sheep

Myth 9: The Brain Drain

Myth 10: There are at least 1 million New Zealanders living overseas

Myth 11: "There are more people alive now than have ever lived"

Myth 12: "New Zealand is in the midst of a baby boom"

Comments

Post a Comment

Be kind

Popular articles

Make Your Public Event Calendar Usable To All

Image
If you run a sports club, this post is for you. If you are on a community committee, this post is also for you If you host events, this is for you. If you put on shows, this is for you. In fact, if you do anything that has a date/time component that you'd like to share with people, this is for you . Yep, probably for all of us. Sharing calendars can be both: an effective way of letting everyone know a complete and utter technical pain in the bottomly region If you've posted up an events page onto your website you know how difficult it is to keep up to date, how the readers have to keep coming back to get the latest changes and don't even think about integrating with somebody else's "events page". Ok, so we all know the problem. What's the solution? iCalendar (normally shortened to iCal) ... yep, it's a geek word that you will come to know and love just as much as RSS. In fact, think of it as RSS for calendars. But that's enough geekery, if you want

The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

Image
It's feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

[Updated] Pubs of 2024 Monmouth

Image
"Back in the day", yada yada yada, yes we all know there were more pubs than people, there was a pub every two houses, the largest number of pubs per square mile than anywhere in the known universe, there was a pub named after each and every one of us, and yet, YET we only ever went to same one every time. Monmouth has changed, it now only has 10 pubs.  "Ten! Ten? It used to be ten pubs just in the top of town. There were ten pubs I'd walk past to get to my local." Yes, yes ... times change, we now have 10 pubs in Monmouth . Oh, and the Mayhill but that seems to be more a ghost pub, it can be seen but only in the dark and no-one will believe if you say you went in. Monmouth, a town in Wales (YES, it is in Wales ), a town that has a population of around 10,317 (as at 2021). A town who's 1980's population was, well, I don't know, despite a century of censuses being taken, it's impossible to find (1991: 8,206 | 2001: 8,877 | 2011: 10,508 | 2021: 1

Reflections In Blue

Image
Of course "Reflections In Blue" Is a jazz album. Art Blakey and his Messengers Would love you to hear it. Coooool.

Mates

Image
Mates, I assume, chatting on the Petone foreshore.