Social policy & Parliamentary unit

Māori Wellbeing

Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been prominent across social and political debates during the past year. What is most puzzling about much of the discourse are the claims that Māori are somehow given unfair advantage or ‘privileges’ simply by identifying as Māori.

This is a complete misrepresentation of the experience of Māori in this land today. Ongoing colonisation, including systemic racism and monocultural institutional assumptions (often invisible to Pākehā perceptions), contribute to inequities of key outcomes, such as life expectancy.

Māori leadership and Māori-led initiatives increase equity, when they are not prevented from doing so. For example, the significant reduction in Māori children in care coincided with hapū, iwi and other Māori strategic partnerships with Oranga Tamariki under section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act; and, students at kura kaupapa have educational attainment parity on some measures.

The experience of growing food hardship, increasing homelessness and housing unaffordability, and the pressures on whānau headline the stresses on fundamental elements of wellbeing for Māori.

More than one in four whānau (27.8%) report that their family is doing badly or not well, higher than in 2018 (25%). Māori report a reduction in the proportion of those able to speak te reo Māori at least fairly well or better. Alongside this is the large decline in the proportion of Māori who feel it is easy to express their identity from 84 percent in 2019 to 75 percent in 2023.

Improving outcomes were few. Average weekly personal incomes rose by 5.5 percent, keeping marginally ahead of inflation. As more social housing became available during the year, the number of Māori waiting for social housing declined significantly.

Meaningful signs of reduction in the often huge disparities experienced by Māori are largely absent this year. Early childhood education and illicit drug offending showed both modest improvement in outcomes and improved equity. However, progress made in previous years is being eroded in several outcome areas. Underlining the financial and economic pressures were the increases in unemployment and youth unemployment in 2024, as well as more Māori receiving welfare support. The imprisonment rate is rising again, which affects Māori disproportionately. This is likely related to the reimprisonment rate, which is increasing again after several years of reductions. The hazardous drinking rate has been trending down but rose in 2024.

The set of wellbeing outcome measures covered in this report cannot fully represent all aspects of the wellbeing aspired to by whānau, hapū and iwi in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, what is presented is a stark reminder of the extent of disadvantage experienced. It also shows that positive progress is still too limited and, in many places, highly vulnerable to being undermined by political and economic decision-making. Upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi by enabling Māori to exercise tino rangatiratanga is key to improving outcomes and quality of life, not only for Māori but for everybody in Aotearoa New Zealand.

He Ara Waiora

This commentary uses He Ara Waiora wellbeing framework to group outcome measures from across the five areas covered in the State of the Nation 2025 report into four domains of wellbeing. We focus on indicators in the four domains of mana within te ira tangata: mana āheinga (capability, resources and skills), mana tauutuutu (reciprocity and social cohesion), mana tuku iho (sense of identity and belonging) and mana whanake (growth and intergenerational prosperity). These four domains express aspects of wellbeing that in te ao Māori are viewed as essential to fulfilled lives. The wellbeing analysis considers two aspects of change in wellbeing—whether the indicators are improving or not, and whether outcomes for Māori are improving relative to non-Māori (reducing inequity and inequality).

Data: Māori Wellbeing Interactive Dashboard

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