Intergenerational links are important to assess intergenerational transfer of wealth, intergenerational socio-economic mobility, and familial influences on health and wellbeing. Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) birth records in the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) can be used for intergenerational research, but currently these records are only available from 1985 onwards, which limits the ability to investigate multigenerational links. Digitization of earlier records back to 1972 (when full dates of birth - a necessary linking variable - were first recorded) would enable a greater exploration of multigenerational links for the full population of New Zealand births over a 50 year period.

This report documents the potential for intergenerational links in the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Three questions are answered: How many people can be linked back one, two, and three generations? How does this vary by decade of birth? How does this vary by ethnicity and deprivation?