Our Population
Deprivation — NZDep2018
The New Zealand Deprivation Index 2018 (NZDep2018) is a small-area measure of deprivation used to describe the deprivation experienced by groups of people [6]. NZDep2018 combines nine socio-economic variables from the 2018 Census, which represent eight deprivation factors: income, employment, communication, transport, support, qualifications, living space, and home ownership [7]. A weighted sum of these variables is calculated for the whole of New Zealand and to consider the deprivation distribution of different populations (such as ethnic groups and geographical populations). The NZDep2018 assigns each small-area in New Zealand a deprivation score. Based on these scores, areas are distributed into ten deciles, decile 1 indicates that an area is in the least deprived 10% of areas in New Zealand and decile 10 indicates that an area is in the most deprived 10% of areas in New Zealand. As an area measure of deprivation, NZDep2018 does not measure deprivation at an individual level.
Following the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010–2011, there was unprecedented population movement out of residential red zone areas in Christchurch City, particularly from more deprived areas of the city into less deprived areas. This redistribution may have caused an underrepresentation of deprivation as measured by NZDep2018 for Christchurch/Canterbury. Generally, increasing levels of deprivation are associated with higher mortality rates, and higher rates of many diseases [7].
This indicator presents the New Zealand Deprivation Index (NZDep2018) profile for greater Christchurch and by Territorial Authority.
The figure shows that the deprivation profile for greater Christchurch is skewed towards lower deprivation, with 50.8 percent of the population living in areas that have the least deprived NZDep scores (deciles 1-4) and 30.4 percent living in areas that have the four most deprived NZDep scores (deciles 7-10). Greater Christchurch has a relatively less deprived NZDep18 profile compared to New Zealand overall (for which, all deciles, by design, equal approximately 10%).
Figures 7.2 to 7.4 show that in 2018, a large proportion of residents from Selwyn District (89.0%) and Waimakariri District (64.4%) were living in areas with the four least deprived NZDep scores (deciles 1-4), along with much lower proportions living in areas with the four most deprived NZDep scores (deciles 7-10), at 4.6 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively. Christchurch City had a more even distribution across the deciles, with under half (42.3%) of the population living in areas falling into the four most deprived deciles and just over a third (36.9%) living in areas falling into the four least deprived deciles.
Data Sources
Source: University of Otago.
Survey/data set: NZDep2018 Index of Deprivation, developed by Atkinson J., Salmond C. and Crampton P. 2014. Access publicly available data from the University of Otago website www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/departments/publichealth/research/hirp/otago020194.html
Source data frequency: Updated 5 yearly.