KEY POINTS:
One-tenth of European and one-quarter of Maori families fell behind on at least one bill for power, gas or water in 2004, according to an official survey.
The Ministry of Social Development's Living Standards Survey found that the proportion of New Zealanders with financial problems had not budged since the previous survey in 2000, despite a drop in unemployment from 6.7 per cent to 4.2 per cent (and to 3.8 per cent since then).
Results of the survey, released last year, showed widening disparities.
A special analysis of those questions supplied to the Herald has found that 12.7 per cent of New Zealand's 2.1 million families - about 266,700 families - could not keep up with power, gas or water payments at least once in the previous year.
Maori families (26.7 per cent) were 2 1/2 times as likely as Europeans (9.9 per cent) to fall behind with their utility bills. Maori families were also more likely to have fallen behind with hire purchase, credit card or store card payments (20.6 per cent of Maori families, 8.7 per cent of Europeans) and with rent or mortgage payments (15.5 per cent and 6.9 per cent).
They were far more likely to have borrowed from family or friends (30.2 per cent against 12.9 per cent), pawned or sold something to meet everyday living costs (14.3 per cent and 6.3 per cent) and to have received food, clothes or money from a community organisation or a church (16 per cent and 3.8 per cent). All results were the same as or very close to answers to the same questions in 2000.
A "family" was defined in both surveys as an adult, plus their partner if any, plus any dependent children aged under 18 in the household.
People responding to the survey could give up to three ethnicities, so there was some double-counting for people who were both Maori and European.
Ministry deputy chief executive Don Gray said the differences between Maori and European families were partly a reflection of Maori being much younger. Their median age in last year's Census was just 22.7 compared with the overall national median of 35.9 years.
Youth may also partly explain one of the most surprising findings in the survey - that only 37.5 per cent of Maori have credit cards or charge cards, compared with 67.7 per cent of Europeans.
It also explains why Maori are more likely to have outstanding student loans (26.6 per cent against 18.8 per cent of Europeans), more likely to have no savings (23.9 per cent against 14.4 per cent) and more likely to have bought something on hire purchase in the past year (36.8 per cent against 27.1 per cent).
The biggest cause of financial difficulty for both groups was medical and dental bills, causing problems for 30.5 per cent of Maori families and 19.9 per cent of European families.
Buying birthday and Christmas presents was the next biggest worry for Europeans (17.5 per cent), followed by housing costs (12.1 per cent).
For Maori, housing was a bigger problem (28.8 per cent) than gifts (23.2 per cent).
School fees, tertiary student fees and other education costs caused difficulty for 22.5 per cent of Maori families, 11.6 per cent of Europeans and 13.9 per cent overall.
The survey was carried out between March and June 2004, before the phased increases in family assistance.
The ministry is now considering whether to repeat the survey next year.
