OECD report paints ugly picture of New Zealand

UPDATE

On February 12, 2003, the OECD, apologised for an error in a report it had published a week earlier which indicated New Zealand had the highest rate of youth crime in the OECD. In its apology, the OECD agreed with New Zealand Justice Minister Phil Goff that the report overstated the rate of youth offending in New Zealand relative to other countries. New Zealand statistics counted every individual offence, while other jurisdictions counted individual offenders. The original news story about the OECD report appears below, exactly as it was published by nzherald.co.nz on February 4, 2003.

04.02.2003

12.30pm

New Zealand has the highest rates of suicide and juvenile crime in the developed world, a new report says.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report released today highlighted this country's on-going battle to stem youth suicide and crime.

It also showed New Zealand had the third highest teenage pregnancy rate of the 30 OECD nations.

It said New Zealanders under 25 had the worst suicide rate among OECD countries in the late 1990s, at 13.6 people per 100,000. Ireland was next with 10.3 and Finland on 9.9.

"People under 25 are more prone to commit suicide in Ireland, Finland, and more strikingly in New Zealand, where the risks are twice as high as the OECD averages.

"Suicides and self-inflicted injuries in New Zealand are the second most common cause of death among young people after car accidents."

New Zealand had the highest rate of suspected participation in teenage crime at 4012 per 100,000 people under 20. Germany followed with 3769 per 100,000 and Finland with 2324.

The suspected population includes those required to meet with police for arrest, interview or other reasons.

"The degree of juvenile crime can be viewed as an indicator of society's failure in the socialisation of young people, be it through families, schools or public institutions," the report said.

New Zealand registered third for teen pregnancies at 30 births per 1000 women under 20, compared with 52.1 and 30.8 for the United States and United Kingdom respectively, the report said.

"The situation is worrying in the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand where the rates are more than twice the OECD average.

"Young mothers are more likely to drop out of education, be poorly paid, bring up their children as single mothers and live on welfare."

New Zealand's unemployment rate at 5.6 per cent was below the OECD average of 6.7 per cent.

The average income sat below the OECD average of US$23,200 at US$20,277.

New Zealand students rated fifth among OECD countries for academic performance.

Foreign-born migrants accounted for 19.5 per cent of New Zealand's population, compared with a high of 23.8 per cent in Australia.

- NZPA