Wellbeing survey provides more accurate insights

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The first tranche of insights and data tables from the Tairāwhiti Wellbeing Survey are available online.

The survey ran for nine weeks from October 2022 with the aim of improving local data and better understand the wellbeing of the region.

Trust Tairāwhiti wellbeing and impact general manager Erina Hurihanganui said while Stats NZ already captured wellbeing data through its biannual NZ General Social Survey (NZGSS), that data did not accurately reflect the region due to the small sample size.

“This means Tairāwhiti data is always lumped in with Hawke's Bay.

“We had 1026 people complete the core wellbeing modules and 935 people completed the entire survey.

■ One of the most negative factors impacting our wellbeing as a region is how we see the condition of the environment in Tairāwhiti.

■ Our sense of safety as a region is quite low compared to the national average.

■ Social support in Tairāwhiti is tracking above the national average.

■ Our region has substantially higher proficiency in te reo speakers who speak fairly well to very well te reo, compared to the national average.

■ We almost double the national average when it comes to people in Tairāwhiti who experience some form of discrimination, whether it's gender, age or ethnicity.

■ Close to 20 percent of respondents often struggle to pay their bills compared to 9 percent at a national level.

■ We have an obvious disparity between low-income and high-income distribution in Tairāwhiti compared to the national average.