The Social Report 2004 describes the social health and wellbeing of New Zealand society. To plan where we are going in the future, we need to know where we are now, what has happened historically, and how outcomes are distributed across different communities.
Social problems have complex and interrelated causes that cut across the traditional boundaries of government agencies. By bringing together information from across these boundaries, the Social Report can assist government in developing integrated social policies to improve our quality of life.
The Social Report is a critical document to support social wellbeing. Not only does it set out a framework of outcomes across the broader social sector, it provides a measure of these outcomes to assess how well we are doing as a nation to address key social problems.
The Ministry of Social Policy produced the first social report in 2001. When The Social Report 2003 was published, the Government agreed that the social report would become an annual publication.
The Social Report 2004 builds on previous reports and includes an additional leisure and recreation outcome domain and a number of new indicators. The changes are the outcome of consultation with the public and other government agencies, and the availability of new social wellbeing data.
I would like to acknowledge the work undertaken by both staff from within the Ministry of Social Development and others from across government departments who have given their time and expertise to produce this report. I would also like to thank those in the wider community without whose input the social report would not have been possible.
I hope that The Social Report 2004 is of value to a wide audience and that future reports continue to bring together an array of information to provide a wide-ranging view of New Zealand and its people.
Peter Hughes
Chief Executive, Ministry of Social Development
