New Zealand residents temporarily overseas (RTOs) at the time of a census are an important part of the New Zealand resident population. People are considered to be temporarily overseas if they have said they intend to be away for less than 12 months.
RTOs are part of the resident population for most demographic, administrative and planning purposes. Because their absence is only temporary and they usually live in New Zealand, RTOs contribute to births and deaths within New Zealand, and they use local services (eg health, education). They are part of the tax base, and they are entitled to vote in New Zealand elections.
The number of RTOs varies from day to day as residents start overseas trips (for business, recreation, to visit family, to attend conferences/meetings) and return from overseas trips. Depending on the time of year, RTOs may number between 50,000 and 150,000, or up to 4 percent, of the resident population. In 2004, roughly one-third of all trips were for one week or less, two-thirds lasted up to two weeks and only 10 percent lasted more than six weeks.
The number of RTOs has been increasing over time. There were 25,500 residents temporarily overseas at the 1981 Census, and 54,500 at the 2001 Census. Over the two decades from 1981 to 2001, the number of people temporarily overseas at the time of the census more than doubled and the propensity for people to be out of the country at census time increased by about 80 percent.
The 1996 and 2001 adjustments for residents temporarily overseas at census
Two working papers outline the 1996 and 2001 adjustments to the resident population base for residents temporarily overseas at census. In both cases, adjustments were based on external migration data and census data.
Download the 1996 Residents Temporarily Overseas paper (pdf, 279 KB)
Download the 2001 Residents Temporarily Overseas paper (pdf, 478 KB)
The methods used varied. The 1996 adjustment did not use matching of departure and arrival records, so its ability to analyse the characteristics of RTOs was limited. The 2001 adjustment incorporated the matching of migration arrival and departure records to gather information on the number and demographic characteristics of residents who happened to be out of New Zealand on short-term travel at census. The 2001 adjustment was more extensive than the 1996 adjustment as an ethnic breakdown of RTOs was also estimated. The 1996 adjustment assumed that the propensity to be overseas at the time of the census did not depend on ethnicity.
The 1996 adjustment paper provides more background information relating to the context of residents temporarily overseas.
Back to Population Estimates