WelCom February/March 2025
Aotearoa New Zealand is backsliding on many areas of social progress, making life harder for people and their whānau across the motu, according to The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report. Titled Kai, Kāinga, Whānau, The Basics – Food, a Home, Family, the report was released on 11 February.
‘Our country needs to do better for people and our report seeks to understand what is happening,’ says Dr Bonnie Robinson, director of the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit at The Salvation Army.
‘This year we can find few areas of improvement, and, in many cases, indicators have worsened, making it harder for people to have what they need in terms of kai, kāinga and whānau.’
The 18th edition of the report pulls together existing data to provide an annual snapshot of our social progress as a nation. Specific areas covered: Children and Youth, Work and Incomes, Housing, Crime and Punishment and Social Hazards. Another section titled Māori Wellbeing uses He Ara Waiora wellbeing framework to look at how each area specifically impacts tangata whenua.
Key findings in the report include rising unemployment, with more than 400,000 people needing welfare support in December 2024 – the highest number since the 1990s. Food insecurity among families with children has also risen sharply, with half of all Pacific children reported as going without food often or sometimes.
The State of the Nation 2025 report also highlights while there has been an increase in the number of social housing units available, the pace of new builds is decreasing, and there are rising numbers of people who are homeless. Rent for private rentals continues to be unaffordable for many on low incomes.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s prison population has also grown, remaining high compared with other developed nations.
Dr Robinson says of the report: ‘We can’t wish away the increasing levels of poverty and deprivation that this report is highlighting, but we can prioritise addressing the basic needs of people so that our whānau go beyond barely surviving to seeing them thrive. We need an economy that ensures all people have the basics and one that puts people first.’
The full report is available online: tinyurl.com/Salvation-Army-Report-2025
Source: Salvation Army
Key findings in the report include:
Māori wellbeing
- Large decline in proportion of Māori who feel it is easy to express their identity (75% in 2023/24, down from 84% in 2018).
- Māori almost seven times more likely to be imprisoned. Reimprisonment rate and overall imprisonment rates rising, with much harder impact on Māori.
- Fewer tamariki Māori in state care, as iwi and community-based alternatives increase.
Children and youth
- Violence against children rising, with number of children hospitalised from assault and neglect in 2024 highest in 10 years.
- One in six students left school with no recognised qualification (less than NCEA Level 1) in 2023 (most recent figures available), highest level since 2013.
Housing
- Emergency Housing numbers plummeted, from 4000 in September 2023 down to 1400 in September 2024, below 500 by December 2024. Homelessness rising, eg, Downtown Community Ministries (DCM) Wellington reported increase from 330 to 464 in number of people they are working with.
- Four out of every 10 communities have high rental unaffordability (over 30% median income), hitting those on low incomes hardest.
- Number of social housing units increased by 4500 in 2024, helping to reduce number of people waiting for social housing. Social housing waitlist shrunk by more than 5000 to 20,300 at end of December 2024. About 25,300 people were on waitlist in September and December 2023.
- There are 4000 fewer new housing consents than we estimate is needed to match population growth.
- Median house price in December 2024, $775,000 – largely unchanged from 2023, but still out of reach for those on lower incomes, around seven times national median income.
Crime and punishment
- About 32% of Aotearoa’s population – roughly one in three people – are victims of crime.
- Family violence seen slight decline, 2700 fewer family harm incidents reported by police.
- Almost 10,000 people in prison, with almost 27% on remand awaiting court.
Social hazards
- More than $2.76 billion lost to gambling in 2023.
- Hazardous drinking increased slightly – one in six people now drinking in a way that is dangerous to themselves and others.
- Methamphetamine use doubled in September 2024, used by 1.3% of the population, and is the most harmful illicit drug, causing over $1 billion in social harm costs annually.
- Household debt is down overall, but arrears were highest for five years.
- KiwiSaver withdrawals for hardship up by 58% in past year.
Work and incomes
- Record numbers of people need welfare support, with over 400,000 in December 2024.
- Food insecurity among families with children rose sharply in 2024, and half of Pacific children go without food often or sometimes.
- Unemployment continued to rise during 2024 by 30,000, as number of people employed decreased.
- Pacific and Māori workers bear unequal burden, with unemployment rates two- to three-times higher than other population groups.
- The Salvation Army distributed fewer parcels in 2024 (84,000) compared with 2023, but also had fewer resources as food support funding from government was reduced.