This report has been designed as a companion to the ARPHS Demographic Profile – Census 2006. The data for this report is analogous to that used in main report, enhanced by additional community level figures from the 2006 Census. As such it provides a snapshot from the Census and depicts the dynamic nature of the Auckland population using changes from past Census figures and Statistics New Zealand projected growth.
As with the regional profile, the geographic supplement is primarily intended to support the planning, delivering, and monitoring of public health programmes and services in the Auckland region. The broad scope of public health interest also provided an opportunity to develop the report in such a way as to be relevant to a number of agencies within and external to the health sector.
Particular attention is given to highlighting diversity within District Health Boards and Territorial Authorities which are critical when identifying priorities based on disparity or community need. Variability at the community level also has significant implications for setting higher level strategies or targets as TA and DHB level statistics can mask or average out actual population differences and inequalities (and thereby limit trend interpretation, or viability of targets).
The approach of the geographic supplement is primarily visual with a number of contemporary methods employed in depicting population patterns, scale, and detail. These methods have been adopted to contend with the difficulties in adequately depicting populations in Auckland’s variable and complex physical space as well as presenting readers with a fresh view of the region.
The maps in this report have been constructed to emphasise variations and inherent patterns within each dataset rather than consistency across datasets. Details on methodologies, data sources and limitations are provided in Appendix A.
The report is structured in three main parts, national DHB maps, ARPHS CAU maps, and Territorial Authority ‘Community Zones’ tables and charts. Each of these parts in turn begins with a general explanatory introduction followed by detailed information on age, ethnicity, social and household, and population projections.
The text provided is limited to describing general-macro patterns only. Given that the use of the report is intended to be wide-ranging with interest ranging from specific communities, regional patterns, particular details (eg. disparity), to the actual population dynamics and implications of the data, the report simply presents the figures. Specific interpretation is left to the individual, though support in this areas is provided by a number of groups within the health sector, or via Statistics New Zealand.
Inevitably there will be specific requirements for planning or programme work that aren’t covered in this report. In one sense the report is simply a poster, depicting the type of information publically available and approaches to effectively communicating it. The Public Health Intelligence team in ARPHS is available to discuss specific programme needs or extensions to this work for local public health needs.
