Annex 1: Level differences between regions
Figure 1, below, gives a snapshot of regional differences in our deprivation proxy[22]. It looks at the distribution of deprivation among New Zealand regions in 1996, as measured by the 10% of New Zealanders living in the most deprived neighbourhoods by income, unemployment and education levels. The maps have been distorted to illustrate the significance of different regions.
Figure 1a maps the location of the most deprived people in New Zealand. It gives a regional breakdown of those in the bottom 10% on our measure of deprivation. The largest concentration of New Zealanders living in deprived neighbourhoods (36.5%) live in the Auckland region, followed by 12% in the Waikato.
Such a high concentration of deprivation in the Auckland region is not unexpected, as Auckland also has the greatest share of total population in New Zealand. An interesting question, then, is how the distribution of the 10% of New Zealanders living in the most deprived neighbourhoods compares with the distribution of total population across regions.
Figure 1b maps the most deprived regions of New Zealand, as indicated by the proportion of that region’s population in the bottom 10% of New Zealanders on our deprivation proxy. If deprivation were evenly spread across space, we would expect 10% of every region to be in the most deprived decile nationally. We observe that Auckland and Waikato, while containing by far the bulk of deprived people, have only a slightly disproportionately high share once regional population levels are accounted for. The proportion of Auckland and Waikato’s population in the bottom decile is 12.4%. Northland and Gisborne, however, stand out dramatically. In both cases almost 25% of the region’s population is in the bottom decile – over double their expected level if distribution of deprivation were proportionate. Interestingly, all South Island regions fall below the 10% mark, indicating that they contain a disproportionately low share of New Zealanders living in deprived neighbourhoods. Deprivation, whether by location of most deprived people, or most deprived regions, appears to be a North Island problem.[23]
- Figure 1 - The Bottom 10% of New Zealanders Ranked by Deprivation (1996)
- Source: Deprivation measure produced by Mawson, Timmins and Maré (2001) using 1996 SNZ census data aggregated to Meshblock.
Note: The maps of NZ have been distorted to reflect the percentage rates within the adjoining tables.
