While WorldDate.info ranks New Zealand 50th in a list of the world’s major economies, poverty remains a significant issue impacting the well-being of New Zealanders. Many key players working to combat poverty in New Zealand, such as the Whaikaha Ministry of Disabled People, which began in 2022 in New Zealand as a government ministry focused on transforming disability policy in New Zealand, name children and minorities like Māori and Pacific Islander people as groups of people who are especially vulnerable to poverty in New Zealand; disability, too, is a huge factor in determining economic security, written in boldface in both the narratives of and statistics about New Zealanders who identify as disabled. Here are five facts about disability and poverty in New Zealand.

5 Facts About Disability and Poverty in New Zealand

1. About 25% of New Zealanders identify as having a disability. While this fact may not demonstrate as direct a correlation to poverty as the other facts listed in this article, it is imperative to recognize the scope of how disability affects the lives and well-being of New Zealanders. To put this figure into perspective, the Pew Research Center reports that 13% of Americans have a disability, alongside 24% of the total population in the United Kingdom. Despite this widespread prevalence, Whaikaha still qualifies government policy and support for New Zealanders with disabilities as difficult to navigate and comprehensively fragmented).
2. Disabled people make more than $13,000 less than non-disabled people per year. The average weekly income for a non-disabled person over the age of 15 is $1,273, compared to $1,018 for a disabled person. This $255 disparity results in annual differences reaching tens of thousands of dollars — tens of thousands of dollars that could have a major impact on the health care and housing resources accessible for a disabled New Zealander.
3. Labor participation is 84.7% for non-disabled people ages 15-64, versus 44.1% for disabled people. Career stability, unemployment trends and accessibility all massively impact the professional opportunities available for disabled people; in New Zealand, these disparities are drastic enough to cause a 40.6% difference in labor participation. As Whaikaha suggests, this disadvantage can be in part attributed to government policy regarding disability and unemployment.
4. Neoliberalism is part of the problem. Since the 1980s, beginning with the election of former Finance Minister Roger Douglas, New Zealand has adopted a neoliberal approach to welfare; this means that things like health care and social and infrastructural support have been privatized and corporatized, rather than being maintained by the New Zealand government. This privatization has led to unequal health care policies and practices that inadvertently impact people with disabilities, raising the prices of resources that are vital for people with disabilities.
5. Disability and poverty are impacting the next generation of New Zealanders as well. The politics and policies surrounding disability and poverty today will continue to impact New Zealanders for decades to come — 8.6% of children living in a household with a guardian who has a disability have experienced material hardship, versus 2.2% of children in a non-disabled household. In addition, 17% of children with a disability live in a low-income household, versus 11.6% of children without a disability. These disparities thus do not just indicate a need for change now; they indicate a trend that will need to be corrected time and time again for years to come.

Looking Ahead

As is true all over the world, people who face disadvantage or disparity in their identity, such as people with a disability, are more susceptible to poverty in New Zealand. In order to combat this inequality, and further the goal of eradicating international poverty as a whole, it is imperative to direct social and economic support to disabled communities. Organizations like Whaikaha have already made strong strides toward this initiative, from raising millions of dollars from the New Zealand government to focus on disability transformation work to establishing infrastructural and accessible support for New Zealanders during natural disasters and crises, from power outages for COVID-19.

– Frances Sharples
Photo: Unsplash