Disaggregation of Social Report indicators
Ideally, it would be possible to break down each indicator by
sub-populations of interest, such as age, sex, ethnicity,
socio-economic status, disability status and by regional and local
authority. Most indicators can be broken down by age, sex and ethnicity.3 For the
majority of indicators, disaggregation by socio-economic status or
disability status is not possible because the indicators rely on data
sources that do not collect this type of information, or the sample
sizes are too small to allow this type of breakdown.
For some indicators (for example, unemployment and employment)
detailed disaggregations are possible. However, the social report’s
two-page format means we cannot include more information than we
currently provide.
There is an increasing demand for information on social
wellbeing at a regional and local authority level. This largely results
from the introduction of the Local Government Act 2002, which requires
regional and local authorities to monitor community outcomes. In
response to this demand, since 2005, we have disaggregated those social
report indicators for which there is subnational data to regional and
territorial authority boundaries. This information is intended to help
local authorities identify areas of comparative strength and weakness
within their communities, as well as to assist central government
agencies in their work at a local level.
This year, we have updated those indicators where more recent
data is available. Time series information is provided where historical
data is available. The regional and territorial authority indicators
are in the regional section of the Social Report website
(www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz). Information for the 16 regions only is
published in companion books to the Social Report.
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