NZ Wards - Current

Topicality: 01-01-2026 Projection: New Zealand Transverse Mercator (NZTM) This layer contains the latest set of Ward boundaries as defined by the regional councils and Local Government Commission but maintained by Stats NZ (the custodian). Wards were originally set up within any territorial authority with a population of at least 20,000. Wards are defined under the Local Electoral Act 2001 and result from dividing a territorial authority for electoral purposes. The ward system was designed to allow for the recognition of communities within a territorial authority and to increase community involvement in the local government system. Territorial authorities can now choose whether they would like to maintain electoral wards. As a result, the number of wards has steadily decreased since they were first created in 1989. Ward boundaries are reviewed in the year before the three-yearly local government elections. This layer gets updated yearly with the latest boundary data. A layer with the full archive of the data for all the available years is available here. For information about the fields in this dataset go to the Data tab. The layer is further generalised by Eagle Technology for improved performance on the web, therefore it doesn't fully represent the official boundaries. The official dataset can be found on https://datafinder.stats.govt.nz. This layer is offered by Eagle Technology (Official Esri Distributor). Eagle Technology offers services that can be used in the ArcGIS platform. The Content team at Eagle Technology updates the layers on a regular basis and regularly adds new content to the Living Atlas. By using this content and combining it with other data you can create new information products quickly and easily. If you have any questions or comments about the content, please let us now at [e-mail]