As many of you will know, Stats NZ have released data from the 2023 Household Disability Survey, the first time this data has been updated in over a decade.
Review the full survey results
Stats NZ summaries of findings and research methods are also available:
- One in six New Zealanders are disabled
- Disabled people need more care and support
- Household disability survey 2023 – findings, definitions and design summary
Whaikaha are continuing to work through the data and have published some initial analysis:
- New disability stats of vital importance
- Prevalence rates and key findings
- Key insights into disabled people in education
- Many disabled people are doing well
Key findings include:
- 18% of adults and 10% of children were disabled, with a population prevalence of 17%, that is 851,000 people, or 1 in 6 people in New Zealand
Disability rates differed by ethnic group:
- Māori had a disability rate of 21 percent, Pacific people 16 percent, and Asian people nine percent
- After adjusting for age, these rates were 24 percent for Māori, 21 percent for Pacific people and 13 percent for Asian people
- The disability rate for the LGBTIQ+ population was 29 percent, significantly higher than the non-LGBTIQ+ rate of 17 percent
Regions with disability rates significantly higher than the national rate were:
- Northland (23 percent)
- Manawatū-Whanganui (21 percent), and
- Taranaki (21 percent)
- Auckland (14 percent) had a disability rate significantly lower than the national rate.
Three out of five disabled people had unmet needs, including education, health, and accessibility support.
It’s important to note that the 2023 survey has adopted improved methods for identifying disabled people, based on questions created by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). These questions better align with our current understanding of disability and with recent approaches to collecting disability data but do include a higher disability threshold. This means the 2023 results cannot be directly compared with past disability surveys.
We’d also like to let you know that the data will be available in the IDI Data Lab for users straight away. Access will be through the usual IDI access pathways.
Huge thanks to the team at Stats NZ for their work on the survey and today’s analysis. We look forward to exploring the data further.