Gisborne residents face double the struggle to pay bills compared to national average: wellbeing survey

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People living in Gisborne are twice as likely as those elsewhere in new Zealand to have trouble paying weekly bills, the first Tairāwhiti Wellbeing Survey (TWS) shows.

Interactive data dashboards from the survey are available on the Trust Tairāwhiti website for people to gain deeper insights about local communities.

“The survey ran over nine weeks from October 2022 and was designed to capture comprehensive data about how we’re doing as a region,” a Trust Tairāwhiti statement said.

“The survey results are based on 1024 responses, weighted against regional demographics to provide the most accurate view of our community’s wellbeing.

“While Statistics NZ already captures wellbeing data through their biannual NZ General Social Survey (NZGSS), this data doesn’t accurately reflect our region due to the small sample size from Tairāwhiti.

“The TWS is a condensed version of the NZGSS, with questions around life satisfaction, income, health, business opportunities, connectedness in the community and perceptions of the environment.

“The new data dashboards allow users to filter out the data by survey area (coast, urban or country), gender, age group, ethnicity, employment status or iwi.

“Each data set is categorised under six muka (outcomes) as set out in He Rangitapu He Tohu Ora, the Trust’s wellbeing framework.

“An instructional video on the Tairāwhiti data site explains how to navigate the dashboards and apply the filters for more customised insights.”

Some insights were positive but many showed the region is well below national averages in a number of areas.

“Our sense of safety as a region is quite low compared to the national average.

“We are almost double the national average when it comes to people in Tairāwhiti who experience some form of discrimination, whether it’s gender, age or ethnicity.

“While life satisfaction is slightly higher in Tairāwhiti at 6.9 compared to the national average at 6.6, one in three people rated their life satisfaction under a six. Of those, 52 percent were young people aged between 15 to 24.

“Social support in Tairāwhiti is tracking above the national average. Our region has substantially higher proficiency in te reo speakers who speak fairly  well  to  very  well in  te reo compared to the

national average.

“We have an obvious disparity between low-income and high-income distribution in Tairāwhiti compared to the national average.

“One of the most negative factors impacting our wellbeing as a region is how we see the condition of the environment in Tairāwhiti.

“Close to 20 percent of respondents often struggle to pay their bills compared to

9 percent at a national level.”

The second Tairāwhiti Wellbeing Survey will launch later this month.