Life is good, our health's fine but we feel stressed

Most New Zealanders think life is pretty good, a major survey has found.

A majority of people also rate their health positively, with one in five rating it as excellent.

But the Quality of Life survey of 7500 people found 90 per cent of us are stressed and more than a fifth reported they had not gone to the doctor when they wanted to, mainly because of the cost.

To the big questions of crime, community, work-related issues, leisure and wellbeing, New Zealanders appear to be generally happy.

But a different picture emerges when it comes to public transport.

Quality of life

Most New Zealanders describe their overall quality of life positively with 60 per cent rating it good and another 28 per cent rating it extremely good. Rodney and Dunedin residents rate their quality of life more positively than Manukau City residents. European New Zealanders rate their quality of life above all other respondents.

Health

Eighty-eight per cent of New Zealanders rated their health as good, very good or excellent. Lower Hutt residents thought their health was best; Tauranga people were the most likely to rate their health fair or poor. The survey results suggest a link between household incomes and positive health rankings. Barriers to a doctor's visit were significantly higher for Maori (33 per cent) and Pacific Island people (28 per cent) than for Asians (21 per cent) and New Zealand Europeans (20 per cent).

Free time

Two out of five people said they participated in physical activity. Nearly 30 per cent of people said they liked to socialise with friends in cafes or bars, visit friends and eat out. Other common pastimes were gardening and lawn mowing (24 per cent), reading (22 per cent) and family or child-focused activities (21 per cent).

Satisfaction with free time

Four out of five residents were satisfied or very satisfied with their free time, with Christchurch and Dunedin residents the most satisfied and Auckland City residents the least satisfied. Those with a household income of between $50,000 and $70,000 were significantly less likely to be satisfied.

Wellbeing

New Zealanders rate their emotional wellbeing positively. Residents from the Rodney District rated their wellbeing happy or very happy (92 per cent) while Auckland City residents were the least likely to rate their wellbeing positively (81 per cent were happy or very happy). Rodney District residents were the most satisfied with life in general (90 per cent) and residents of Manukau City the least satisfied (80 per cent). New Zealand European residents were the most satisfied (86 per cent).

Stress

Around 12 per cent of respondents said they had never experienced the negative effects of stress. Tauranga residents were the most likely to never experience stress while Wellington residents were the least likely. Households on incomes of $20,000 or less were most likely never to have experienced negative stress while households with an income of $70,000 or more were significantly more likely to experience negative stress.

Public transport

Rodney District and Tauranga residents were the most likely to say they had not used public transport in the last year. Nationally, the ethnic group with the highest number of residents to say they had not used public transport was Maori (49 per cent).

Crime and safety

Most New Zealanders feel safe from crime after dark in their own homes. About four per cent said they felt unsafe or very unsafe in their homes. Wellington people were most likely to feel safe (94 per cent) and people from Manukau (81 per cent) the least likely.

State of the nation

* The Quality of Life survey of 6000 people is conducted in New Zealand's 12 largest cities: Auckland, North Shore, Waitakere, Manukau, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Rodney, Tauranga, Porirua and Lower Hutt.

* 1500 people in the regions are also polled.

* The survey, which began in 1999, is produced for policy-makers in central and local government.