KEY POINTS:
The gap between the incomes of Maori and Pakeha has closed dramatically in the past five years as Maori ride the wave of what is now an eight-year tide of economic growth.
A detailed analysis of last year's Census shows that the median income of Maori has jumped 41 per cent since the 2001 Census, from $14,800 to $20,900 a year.
In the same period, the median income of the total population rose 31 per cent, to $24,400.
Maori have also made stronger gains than Pakeha in employment and post-school qualifications. However, non-Census data shows that "closing the gaps" is proving harder in other areas such as health, welfare and crime.
The new figures provide some of the first solid evidence of progress towards a goal which the newly elected Labour Cabinet stated in February 2000 as to "close the gaps for Maori and Pacific people in health, education, employment and housing".
At the time, Maori men and women lived for an average of eight and nine years less than Pakeha men and women respectively, and almost half of working-age Maori were not in paid work.
The latest Census and other data show that:
* About 54 per cent of Maori adults now have level 1 NCEA or above, up from three-quarters of the national average in 1996 to four-fifths.
* About 64 per cent of working-age Maori are now in paid work, up from 70 per cent of the national average to 80 per cent.
* Maori incomes have risen faster than average across the board. The proportion earning at least $70,000 a year has doubled from 1.7 per cent of all Maori in 2001 to 3.4 per cent, while the proportion in the total population rose only from 5.1 per cent to 8.1 per cent.
* But there has been no improvement in the gap in the average lifespan, and Maori men are still almost seven times as likely as non-Maori to be in jail.
Maori health researcher Dr Rhys Jones said Maori were benefiting from improved economic conditions in employment, income and education, but there was "a long lag time" before those benefits flowed into improved health and lower crime.
Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said the Maori gains were a result of Government targeting, such as its latest programme, Maori Potential.
"I am more than certain what we have done from Closing the Gaps to Maori Potential has had a big impact," he said.
While the wording around Closing the Gaps had changed, Government policy had not.
Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell celebrated the "dramatic, indeed revolutionary progress" in Maori tertiary education, which he attributed to the three Maori wananga.
But he described progress on other fronts as "minimal".
