MSD — The Financial and Material Wellbeing of Older New Zealanders (Working Paper 01/25)
Ministry of Social Development — Bryan Perry
Publisher: Ministry of Social Development
Official data
Official primary
2026-10-09
Next review not yet scheduled
New Zealand
High confidence
verified
SNZ editorial review
Evidence boundary: Working paper dated 20 August 2025, 44 physical pages; mainly historical HES analysis with explicitly dated administrative data. Private-dwelling coverage excludes rest homes and several precarious housing settings. Pooled subgroup rates, survey uncertainty and distinct hardship measures must be retained. Original June 2026 capture label preserved; source rechecked 9 October 2026, not a new publication date.
Short Answer
Bryan Perry’s MSD working paper examines older New Zealanders’ incomes, housing costs, accessible savings and material wellbeing, mainly through Household Economic Survey data.
Key Points
- •The 44-page original is MSD Working Paper 01/25, authored by Bryan Perry and dated 20 August 2025. It is background research for MSD’s 2025 Long-Term Insights Briefing, rather than an adopted policy document.
- •The analysis includes private dwellings and retirement villages, but excludes rest homes, hostels, emergency/transitional housing, caravan parks and people living rough (p. 3).
- •Income measures are combined with housing costs, accessible savings and three non-income indices: DEP-17, EU-13 and MWI-24. Small subgroup samples require pooled surveys or rolling averages (pp. 3–4).
- •The overview estimates around 3% of older people in material hardship and another 3–4% near hardship. The DEP-17 6+ rate changed from 2.9% in 2022/23 to 3.9% in 2023/24; the paper says this annual change was not statistically significant (p. 5).
- •Pooled 2019–2024 hardship rates were 1% for mortgage-free households and 16% for private renters receiving Accommodation Supplement; ethnicity estimates were 2% European, 3% Asian, 8% Māori and 14% Pacific (p. 5). These describe groups, not an individual’s eligibility or circumstances.
- •Just over 40% of people aged 66+ in one-person or couple households had under $100 weekly income from non-government sources; the proportions were 64% for single-person households and 31% for couples. Age 66+ avoids partial NZ Super eligibility during the survey year (p. 6).
Full Summary & Notes
Bryan Perry’s MSD working paper examines older New Zealanders’ incomes, housing costs, accessible savings and material wellbeing, mainly through Household Economic Survey data. It finds relatively low average hardship among people aged 65 and over, alongside much greater hardship for some renters, Māori, Pacific people and households with dependent children. Income alone can misrepresent living standards because housing costs and accumulated assets differ. Prepared for MSD’s 2025 Long-Term Insights Briefing, the paper distinguishes hardship rates from growing numbers of older people in difficulty and cautions that the latest annual rise was not statistically significant. Its private-dwelling coverage excludes rest-home residents and several precarious housing settings.
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