• Changes in social wellbeing over time
• Variation in social wellbeing across the country
• The distribution of social wellbeing in New Zealand
• Summary of indicators

Variation in social wellbeing across the country

In this section we draw some conclusions about the distribution of social wellbeing across regions.

Variations in social wellbeing will, to some extent, be driven by the different demographic profiles of communities, and in particular their age distributions. For example, regions with disproportionately youthful populations will be more likely to perform poorly for those indicators against which children and young people tend to do poorly.

Reporting on the average level of wellbeing in a region will also obscure variation in outcomes within that region. Therefore, while the 16 regions we report on contain a diverse range of communities with a diverse range of outcomes, this will not be apparent from the data on average regional outcomes.

We have some regional data for 19 of the report's 42 indicators.⁹² It is important to emphasise that the picture of social wellbeing presented here is only a partial one because of the limited size of the indicator set for which we have comparable data. However, the indicator set does include a number of key indicators, including life expectancy, cigarette smoking, participation in early childhood education, school leavers with higher qualifications, adult educational attainment, unemployment, median hourly earnings, low incomes, household crowding, participation in sport and active leisure, and telephone and internet access.

Canterbury, Wellington and Nelson are in the top quartile for at least half of the 18 indicators,⁹³ and are in the lower quartile for no more than two indicators. Northland, Gisborne and the West Coast are in the lower quartile for more than half of the 18 indicators.

We can draw tentative conclusions about how indicators of social wellbeing vary across the regions in only some of the social report outcome domains.

In the Health domain, Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington perform well for life expectancy. Conversely, life expectancy is lowest in Gisborne, Northland and Southland. Wellington, Auckland and Canterbury have smoking rates below the national average of 25 percent. Northland, the West Coast, Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty have higher than average rates.

In the Knowledge and Skills domain, early childhood participation is consistently high across all of the seven South Island regions. For both the proportion of school leavers with higher qualifications and the educational attainment of their adult populations, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago perform well. All of these regions have large universities within their boundaries. The levels of these indicators are not as high for the West Coast and Northland. There is a wide variation in outcomes for the proportion of school leavers with higher qualifications, ranging from 75 percent in Otago through to 51 percent in the West Coast.

In the Paid Work domain there was relatively little variation in regional unemployment rates in 2004, and they are low by both historical and international standards across all of the 16 regions. There is a larger degree of variation in regional employment rates, ranging from a high of 78 percent in Southland, to 69 percent in Northland. The South Island regions (with the exception of Otago) do particularly strongly for indicators of both employment and unemployment.

Median hourly earnings are the highest in Wellington and Auckland and the lowest in Otago, and the combined area of Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. There is a considerable degree of variation in workplace injury rates across the regions. This reflects the higher concentration of workers in higher-risk industries (such as agriculture and forestry) in regions such as Gisborne, Northland, the Hawke's Bay and the Bay of Plenty. Workplace injuries are lowest in urban areas where workers are more concentrated in lower-risk white-collar jobs.

In the Economic Standard of Living domain, the proportion of the population with low incomes ranges from a low of 20 percent in Wellington to 29 percent in Gisborne. Other regions with relatively high proportions of people with low incomes are Northland, Otago and the West Coast. There are relatively low rates of household crowding across all seven South Island regions. Household crowding is most prevalent in Auckland, Northland and Gisborne.