Te Tai Waiora: Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022

Te Tai Waiora is the Treasury’s first report on wellbeing.

Under the terms of the Public Finance (Wellbeing) Amendment Act 2020, Treasury is required to provide an independent report on the state of wellbeing in New Zealand at least every four years.

While there are many ways to interpret wellbeing, The Treasury draws on the Living Standards Framework and He Ara Waiora to provide insight into a range of aspects of life that New Zealanders value. Te Tai Waiora uses these frameworks to provide a high-level overview of wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, how it has changed over decades, and how well we are positioned to sustain our wellbeing over time.

Te Tai Waiora is part of our wider work to consider the broader impacts of policy advice in a systematic and evidenced way. We hope that the findings and analysis in Te Tai Waiora will stimulate robust public debates about our shared future and the priorities for improving wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, both inside and outside of the public service.

This wellbeing report is part of a suite of reporting documents, required by either the Public Finance Act (1989) or the Public Service Act (2020), which also includes:

• Investment Statements
• Long-term Fiscal Position
• Long-term Insights Briefings
• Economic and Fiscal Updates.

On 24 November, the Secretary to the Treasury delivered a speech on the findings of Te Tai Waiora at the launch event of Te Tai Waiora: Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Background papers

Te Tai Waiora is supported by a number of background papers published by the Treasury and external agencies.

• Trends in Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2000-2020
• New Zealand’s wellbeing: Is it sustainable and what are the risks? 
• Wellbeing and natural capital: Understanding the sustainability and risks
• Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: A population segmentation analysis 
• Our wellbeing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
• Wellbeing during the first year of COVID-19: An analysis of the wellbeing supplement to the New Zealand Household labour force survey
• Social Cohesion in New Zealand: Background paper to Te Tai Waiora: Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022 (AP 22/01)
• Trends in Māori wellbeing (AP 22/02)
• The distribution of advantage in Aotearoa New Zealand
• Equality, equity and distributive justice (AP 22/03)
• Pacific peoples’ wellbeing (AP 23/01)
• An update to estimates of human capital in New Zealand (AP 23/02)

Engagement

In preparing this report, the Treasury has engaged with a number of agencies, organisations, and experts who have made contributions to the analytical content behind Te Tai Waiora. The Treasury acknowledges and thanks the many people who supported its development. In particular, we gratefully acknowledge and contributions of our Expert Advisory Panellists and joint Treasury-Victoria University of Wellington academic roundtable participants.

As part of our engagement approach, we have been running a wellbeing seminar series with leading academics and experts in the field. The videos of these seminars are available at Guest lectures.