Joy? 10 years on we're full of it

The transformation of Auckland has played a key part in the "fabulous improvement" in the quality of life over the last decade, says a research company report.

Nielsen Media Research says it bases its claim on 12,000 interviews with New Zealanders in 1994, 1999 and 2004.

Nielsen executive director Nick Jones said the report revealed an increasingly successful and confident nation eager to build its connections with the rest of the world.

The report, Living in New Zealand: 10 Fabulous Years, said this had become a better country for living and working and every key area had improved in the decade to 2004.

These improvements included:

* Rapid population growth, fed by an influx of migrants. About one in four people in Auckland now were not living here in 1994.

* The emergence of Auckland as an epicentre of ethnic diversity with locally born people of European descent now accounting for less than half the Auckland population.

* Improving racial harmony.

* Solid growth in incomes and fewer people finding it hard to make ends meet.

* A significant increase in perceptions of opportunities for women.

* Less of a gap between Maori and people of European descent in income and job opportunities.

* A new pride in Maori culture, reflected in the number of people who had changed their view about their ethnicity and now claimed a Maori background.

Nielsen said the proportion of people who agreed with the statement "racial problems are getting worse" dropped from 64.6 per cent in 1994 to 60.1 per cent in 2004.

The proportion who agreed that everything in this country was changing too fast had fallen from 33.1 per cent to 29.6 per cent.

The proportion who agreed women in this country got a fair go rose from 46.6 per cent to 59.9 per cent.

- NZPA