Civic Engagement
Influencing central and local government
Central and local government agencies have a major role in enhancing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural aspects of wellbeing within communities. Civic engagement is associated with citizens’ confidence in their ability to influence local and national decision making, including their trust in the political process [3].
This indicator presents the proportion of those 18 years and over agreeing or strongly agreeing they are able to have enough say in what central and local government agencies do, as reported in the 2018 Canterbury Wellbeing Survey [12].
The figure shows that less than one quarter of Christchurch City respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had enough say in the actions of central and local government agencies. For the Selwyn and Waimakariri districts, just over one quarter of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had enough say in central and local government agencies’ actions. There were no statistically significant differences between the three Territorial Authorities.
The figure shows that one-in-four European and Māori respondents to the 2018 Canterbury Wellbeing Survey agreed or strongly agreed that they are able to have enough say in the actions of central and local government agencies. Approximately 30 percent of Pacific/Indian/Asian respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were able to have enough say. There were no statistically significant differences between these groups.
The figure shows that a lower proportion of respondents aged 18 to 24 years agreed that they are able to have enough say in what central and local government agencies do compared to older age groups. The differences between the 18 to 24 years age group (18.7%) and the 35 to 49 years and 65+ years age groups (26.8% and 29.9% respectively) were statistically significant.
The figure shows that a lower proportion of respondents with a long-term health condition or disability agreed or strongly agreed they are able to have enough say in the actions of central and local government agencies (22.2% compared to 26.2% of those without a long-term health condition or disability). However, this difference was not statistically significant.
Data Sources
Source: Canterbury District Health Board.
Survey/data set: Canterbury Wellbeing Survey to 2018. Access publicly available data from the Community and Public Health (Canterbury DHB) website www.cph.co.nz/your-health/wellbeing-survey/
Source data frequency: Annually.