Drinking water quality remains a critical metric from which we can measure wellbeing in New Zealand. Access to safe drinking water is taken as given across almost all of New Zealand – for good reason. But as our Chart of the Month shows, although drinking water across most of New Zealand meets required standards, a lack of funding and measurement against some standards increases drinking water risks more than most would expect. Read

Infometrics is proud to announce that the Regional Economic Profile (REP) has been refreshed with a new look, improved functionality, new wellbeing data, and many new charts and tables. The REP provides in-depth economic insights into every region and territorial authority in New Zealand. Read

Over the past six years Masterton’s wellbeing has improved its relative position in six out of nine wellbeing domains. In our chart of the month, we showcase the district’s movement up the wellbeing rankings using the Infometrics regional wellbeing framework available in the newly refreshed Regional Economic Profile. Read

In the years since the Global Financial Crisis, New Zealanders have enjoyed consistent economic growth and Māori have earned their share of this. But on many key metrics, a clear gap between the economic fortunes of Māori and non-Māori remains. Read

For the past few months, the Infometrics team has been fully occupied with modelling the effects of the pandemic on the national economy, and on the local economies and individual operations of our clients. In this article, Alistair Schorn takes a closer look at Infometrics Wellbeing Framework developed in 2019 to evaluate the wellbeing of New Zealand’s communities. Read

Plastic packaging is being talked about more than any other time since it was first invented. With single-use plastic bags now banned, and our ability to outsource soft plastic recycling overseas becoming less viable, there are some fundamental shifts occurring for New Zealand. With more efforts to switch to reusable alternatives, and a rethink about plastic recycling, we need to focus much more on how we manage our waste. Read

Lifting the skills and opportunities available for Māori has been one of the key priority areas of the government’s Wellbeing Budget. Plenty has been written about the socio-economic, health and other challenges facing Māori over the past couple of decades, yet many of these interrelated issues remain. Read

A new report from economic consultancy Infometrics highlights the stark divide in wellbeing between urban and rural New Zealand. Regional Wellbeing marks the first attempt to comprehensively report on wellbeing at a local level around New Zealand. It covers 30 indicators and draws from Infometrics’ online Regional Wellbeing Framework. Read

Today’s Wellbeing Budget is a significant departure from previous budgets. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has laid out an ambitious spending plan for the economy based around the government’s five wellbeing priorities. The test will be how achievable this plan is. Read

The Treasury hit headlines a month or two back when considering ‘sun and moon feelings’. While sun and moon feelings did not meet our criteria in when developing the Infometrics regional wellbeing framework, we thought it would be fun to shine the line sunshine hours to see what area came up trumps. Read