1864 New Zealand census

The 1864 New Zealand census of people of European descent was held on 1 December 1864. The census contained questions about people's health, religion, occupation, education and literacy, and marital status. There were also questions about the size and construction materials of dwellings, land fenced and cultivated and livestock.

The census found showed that the population had increased by 73.86% since the previous census in 1861, and more people lived in the South Island than the North Island. The census showed that there were 23.82% more men than women in New Zealand (excluding the military and their families), increased from 1861 when there were 23.34% more men than women, and from 1858 when there were 13.36% more men. Enumerators attributed the increasing discrepancy to the large influx of miners to the gold fields, who were likely to be unmarried or to have left their families in their home countries.

Population by province
The most populous province was Otago, with 49,019 people counted in the census. This total included about 10,000 miners.

Birthplaces of the European population as of December 1864
The percentage of the European population born in New Zealand decreased from 27.86% in 1861 to 23.95% in 1864, but the total population grew by 73.86% due to large-scale immigration.

Religious affiliation
Almost half of the European population belonged to the Church of England, but as occurs in modern censuses, some individuals stated other unusual religious beliefs, for example 'Bible Believer', 'Infidel', and 'Professor of Cosmo-theism".

Occupations
Labourers, farm workers and domestic and general servants made up almost 18% of workers. Officials said that of 15,700 people on the Otago gold fields at census time, about 10,000 were male miners. Just over half of the population, mostly women and children, had no occupation. Those women who were employed mostly worked as domestic servants or at domestic duties, but small numbers were employed in trade and manufacture, agricultural and pastoral work, or as mechanics, artificers, and skilled workers. More than half of all teachers were women.