Demographic data is a valuable source of information on population characteristics for informing policy and planning. But choosing the appropriate population information to apply to policy and planning is a complex process.
Below are some of the more important ways in which population information is used in policy analysis and service planning.
Identifying trends
- to provide a comprehensive overview of the various population trends occurring within New Zealand.
Creating frameworks
- to provide conceptual frameworks for analysis of public policy issues.
Informing financial decisions and policy
- as key inputs into major capital planning decisions
- in population-based funding formulas
- to forecast and project government revenue and expenditure.
Analysis, monitoring and evaluation
- to identify the policy, expenditure, or service delivery implications of population changes over the short, medium, or long-term
- to explore the effects on the population of changing particular policies, such as immigration policies
- to monitor social, economic, and environmental outcomes at both national and subnational levels, for example, in the calculation of social indicators compiled in the annual Social Report
- to evaluate the actual impacts of policies on particular groups.
Targeting
- to target service delivery to, and to estimate policy impacts on particular groups.
Comparing
- to make valid comparisons across population groups, using standardisation techniques.