2 Data
Department of International Affairs – Birth dataset. The following variables were of interest to the investigation:
| IDI Variable Name | Description |
| snz_uid | IDI unique identifie allocated by SNZ |
| snz_dia_uid | DIA identifier allocated by SNZ |
| dia_bir_birth_month_nbr | Month child was born |
| dia_bir_birth_year_nbr | Year child was born |
| parent1_snz_uid | IDI unique identifier allocated by SNZ |
| parent1_snz_dia_uid | DIA dataset identifier allocated by SNZ |
| dia_bir_parent1_birth_month_nbr | Month parent1 was born |
| dia_bir_parent1_birth_year_nbr | Year parent1 was born |
| parent2_snz_uid | IDI unique identifier allocated by SNZ |
| parent2_snz_uid | DIA dataset identifier allocated by SNZ |
| dia_bir_parent2_birth_month_nbr | Month parent2 was born |
| dia_bir_parent2_birth_year_nbr | Year parent2 was born |
The data dictionary for the Live event data reveals several key changes within the dataset:
The notification of births and deaths were made compulsory in 1848. Introduced through the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1875.
The birth date for parents were only captured from 1972 onwards, previously the parents age was requested instead.
In 1998 the DIA moved to digital storage of paper records, referred to as the Record Back Capture Project.
Since 2005 the sex of the parents was recorded, prior to 2005 the first parent entry in the birth record was always the mother.