Mental Health New Zealand - Wellbeing Statistics

https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/assets/Uploads/MHF-Quick-facts-and-stats-FINAL.pdf

Wellbeing 

Many New Zealanders feel satisfied with, and positive about, their lives.

• In the 2012 New Zealand General Social Survey, an estimated 87% of New Zealanders were

‘satisfied’ (54%) or ‘very satisfied’ (33%) with their lives, and four aspects of life were

important in determining the level of satisfaction: health, money, relationships, and housing.

• In the 2012 Quality of Life Survey, 80% of residents from six major New Zealand cities rated

their overall quality of life positively, with 61% considering it to be good and 19% extremely

good, and the majority (71%) of residents rated themselves as having a positive emotional

wellbeing with 54% happy and 17% very happy”.

The OECD Better Life Index showed that when asked to rate their general satisfaction with life NewZealanders give it a grade of 7.3 on a possible scale of 0 to 10, higher than the OECD average of 6.6and placing us 12th out of 36 countries behind the Scandinavian countries, Australia, Mexico, andCanada.

In the same research, 85% of New Zealanders said they had more positive experiences in an averageday (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment etc.) than negative ones (pain, worry,sadness, boredom, etc.), more than OECD average of 76% and amongst the most positive in theOECD along with Iceland and Japan 

International research has identified five simple things we can do as part of our everyday lives to

boost our mood and sense of wellbeing, and in New Zealand, each of these is associated with a

higher level of wellbeing: connect, give, take notice, keep learning, and be active.

Connect – talk and listen, be there, feel connected

Approximately three out of four New Zealanders say the amount of contact they have with friends

and family who do not live with them is “about right”, but around 20% want more contact and only

2% felt they had too much contact (2012 New Zealand General Social Survey)

Thirty one percent of New Zealanders felt lonely a little, some, most, or all of the time in the last

month. People more likely to feel lonely include younger people, women, people living in rented

accommodation, one-parent families, and unemployed people.

In the 2010 Quality of Life Survey of residents from eight New Zealand cities, just over half (54%) said that family was one of the three main components that contributed to their quality of life.

In the 2012 Quality of Life Survey of residents from six large New Zealand cities, around half (53%)

felt a sense of community with people in their local neighbourhood. The top reasons for not feeling a sense of community were: a busy life (42%), people in the neighbourhood not talking with each

other (41%) and a preference for socialising with family and friends (37%).

In the same survey, the most common social networks people belong to were: people from work or

school (47%), online networks such as social media, gaming and forums (46%), and sports clubs or hobby/interest groups (27%).

In the 2012 New Zealand General Social Survey, most New Zealanders (96.2%) felt that in a time of crisis there was someone outside their own home they could turn to for help

In the Sovereign Wellbeing Index study of New Zealanders’ wellbeing:

• Thirty percent of New Zealanders connect with friends, relatives or work colleagues more

than once per week.

• Middle-aged people (30–59 years of age) connect less than younger or older people, people

with higher incomes connect more, and fewer Asian people connect regularly than do

European New Zealanders.

• Less than half of New Zealanders (39.3%) feel people in their local area help one another

and three out of four New Zealanders do not feel close to people in their local area

• There is a steady increase in wellbeing as people connect more often; for instance, the

average wellbeing score for people who connect several times a week is 46.8 compared with

39.9 for people who connect less than once a month.

Give – your time, your words, your presence

The 2012 New Zealand General Social Survey found that 30.6% of New Zealanders had done

voluntary work for a group or organisation in the past month, and 62.2% had done unpaid work for

someone living in another household (Statistics New Zealand, 2013). In 2008, the same survey

showed that people who did voluntary work had higher levels of life satisfaction (89.5%) than people who did not (84.2%).Thirty six percent of people donated money, and 16% donated goods, to a charity or worthy cause in the final quarter of 2013, according to the latest quarterly figures from the Department of Internal Affairs.

In the Sovereign Wellbeing Index study of New Zealanders’ wellbeing, people were asked to what

extent they give help and support to those close to them when this is needed.

• People’s wellbeing increased as they gave more, with people who gave “completely” having

an average wellbeing score of 46.7, compared with 24.7 for people who do not give any help

and support.

• One in seven New Zealanders gave often. Giving increased with age, with more people aged

40 years and over offering help compared with people aged 18-20 years, more females and

males gave, giving was the same regardless of income, and more Māori and Pacific people

gave compared with other ethnic groups.

New Zealanders rank highly for generosity on the international stage. In the World Giving Index 2013 which compared data from 135 countries, New Zealand ranked second equal with Canada and Myanmar, with a score of 58%, behind only the United States on 61%. The United Kingdom ranked sixth and Australia seventh. New Zealand’s ranking reflects high participation in helping a stranger (67% of people), as well as donating money (67%) and volunteering time (40%).

Take notice – remember the simple things that give you joy

There is growing evidence that mindfulness can produce positive life changes such as reduced stress and anxiety, and the ability to cope with difficult life events. An overview can be found in the 2011 Mental Health Foundation paper: An overview of mindfulness-based interventions and their

evidence base.

A recent meta-analysis of 47 clinical trials around the world concluded that mindfulness meditation

programmes can produce small to moderate improvements in multiple aspects of psychological

stress, including anxiety, depression, pain, stress/distress and mental health-related quality of life.

Relatively little research on mindfulness appears to have been done in New Zealand to date, but:

Consistent with overseas research, a study in New Zealanders with a range of chronic physical

illnesses found that training in mindfulness-based stress reduction helped to reduce levels of

depression, anxiety, stress, and pain/discomfort, and improved physical and social functioning along with mental health, energy, vitality and overall health.

Dr Ross Bernay from AUT is working with the Mental Health Foundation to pilot a mindfulness

programme in six New Zealand schools, with the aim of helping to children increase their focus and

attention and learn to work with others compassionately.

In the Sovereign Wellbeing Index study of New Zealanders’ wellbeing people were asked on a

typical day how often they take notice of and appreciate their surroundings (scores from 0 “never’ to 10 “always”):

• Around 40% of people took notice often (score of 8 or more); more people aged 60 years

and older took notice often, as did more Māori and Pacific people compared with other

ethnic groups. There was little difference with income.

• People’s wellbeing increased as they took notice more, with people who did so “always”

having an average wellbeing score of 48.1, compared with 28.0 for people who “never” took

notice.

Keep learning – embrace new experiences, see opportunities, surprise yourself

In the 2013 Census, 9.8% of New Zealanders reported being in full time study and 3.5% were in parttime study.

Adult and Community Education (ACE) Aotearoa, which provides community-based education in

schools, communities, institutes and wānanga, estimated that in 2013 they had more than 58,000

adult learners taking part in more than 12,000 programmes – from te reo Māori to beekeeping and

website design. A survey showed that taking part in the courses boosted peoples’ confidence in their ability to learn, to use their skills, and to speak – with whanau, friends and at work – as well as their participation levels in solving problems, helping others, and taking control of their lives.

Lifelong learning is about much more than formal education, however, and includes learning new

things in all areas of life. 

In the Sovereign Wellbeing Index study of New Zealanders’ wellbeing

• People were asked to what extent they learn new things in life and 44% said they were

learning a great deal.

• There was little difference in the proportion of people who were learning new things

regularly across different age groups or income brackets. More Māori and Pacific people

(47.5%) and Asian people (53.2%) reported learning new things often than did European

people (42.3%)

• People’s wellbeing increased as they learned new things more often. People who learned a

great deal had an average wellbeing score of 47.6, compared with 27.0 for people who never

learned new things.

Be active – do what you can, enjoy what you do, move your mood

In the 2012/13 New Zealand Health Survey, about half of all New Zealand adults (52%, or around

1,800,000 adults) reported being physically active for at least 30 minutes on five or more days in the past week. Men were more likely to be physically active (56%) than women (48%), and physical activity levels declined with age but 38% of adults aged 75 years and over were still physically active. 

This is consistent with the 2007/2008 Active New Zealand Survey, which found that many New

Zealanders participate in sport and recreation activities:

• Almost all (96%) New Zealander adults participated in one or more sport or recreation

activity over twelve months, and 79% participated in any week.

• There were high participation levels in a mixture of sport and recreation activities, the most

popular being: walking (64.1%), gardening (43.2%), swimming (34.8%), equipment based

exercise (26.5%), cycling (22.7%), fishing (19.3%), jogging/running (17.5%) and dance

(16.8%).

• Almost half of New Zealanders (48.2%) met the national guidelines for physical activity,

participating in at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical exercise on five or more

days of the week. More men than women met the guidelines (52% vs 44%) as did more

Māori (53.5%) and Pacific people (52.6%) than the general population.

• Four in ten adults (39.1%) did not meet the recommended level of activity, but still achieve

at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity over seven days. 

In the Sovereign Wellbeing Index study of New Zealanders’ wellbeing, people’s wellbeing increased with even small increases in activity level. People who engaged in high levels of exercise had an average wellbeing score of 47.1, compared with 42.8 for people with very low levels of exercise. Even low levels of exercise boosted wellbeing to 45.0.