The Hawke's Bay District Health Board is encouraging people to fill in their Census forms to help inform the Government on where future health funding needs to go.
People started receiving their Census information in the post last week, ahead of Census day tomorrow.
Hawke's Bay DHB chief executive Dr Kevin Snee said funding for the public health sector was determined by the population-based Census data, and as such filling it in was vitally important.
Last conducted in 2013, this year's Census would provide a much clearer and up-to-date picture of how many people lived in the region, their ethnicity, their age, where they lived and the resources required to care for people across hospital, primary care and community health services, he said.
"Every dollar counts in health and we believe there has been an increase in the population in Hawke's Bay since the last Census judging by the increase in demand on the health system both in the community and for hospital services.
"If people do not take part and complete the Census, then our region may miss out on vital funding."
This year people had the option take part online, on or before Census day, and letters were being delivered to households containing information and an online access code.
For people who did not have computers or the internet, councils around the Hawke's Bay regions were providing options to help.
In Napier, Census information was available at the city's libraries, and the council was offering 60 free minutes on the computer terminals at both libraries for people wanting to fill out their Census.
The council's housing team was also taking iPads into council-owned units to help residents.
In Dannevirke, people were able to complete their Census on the library computers, and in Central Hawke's Bay people could also use the district libraries' computers with library hours extended until 10pm on Tuesday.
One hour free internet access was also being offered at the three libraries in Hastings during normal hours for people to fill in their form online.
In Wairoa, to ensure people were counted fairly, a community hub would be set up at Wairoa Taiwhenua with laptops, mobile devices and Wi-Fi access for those who did not have a computer at home.
Forms would be available and if community members had not yet received their codes, they would be able to get assistance to access them.
Three Census staff would also be on hand to help at the hub on the corner of Bridge and Hunter Brown Sts today and Tuesday from 10am to 6pm.
The initiative was a collective response including the Wairoa Taiwhenua, Wairoa Age Concern, Wairoa District Council, HBDHB, Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, and Tairawhiti REAP.