17 percent of New Zealanders are disabled
Insights from the 2023 Stats NZ Household Disability Survey.
On 27 February 2025, Stats NZ released statistics from the 2023 Household Disability Survey external URL . The survey is a key source of disability data and is the main way information is collected about the experiences and needs of disabled people across New Zealand. The survey provides the only official estimates of disability prevalence as well as information about the characteristics of the disabled population and about barriers and unmet needs. We’ve summarised some of the key data from the survey below.
Full details about the 2023 Household Disability Survey, including data tables and news stories can be found on the Stats NZ website external URL .
851,000 people living in New Zealand households are disabled
The survey found that 17 percent of people living in New Zealand households were disabled. This includes 753,000 adults (18 percent of adults aged 15 years and over) and 98,000 children (10 percent of children aged 0-14 years old).
Some population groups had higher disability rates than others, including:
- Females (18 percent of females compared with 15 percent of males),
- People in the LGBTIQ+ (Rainbow) population (29 percent of the LGBTIQ+ population compared with 17 percent for the non-LGBTIQ+ population),
- Older people aged 65 and over (35 percent compared with the national rate of 17 percent),
- The disability rate for children differed by gender, with boys having a higher disability rate than girls (12 percent compared with 8 percent).
Disability rates also differed by ethnic group. Māori had a disability rate of 21 percent, Pacific people 16 percent, and Asian people 9 percent. After adjusting for age, these rates were 24 percent for Māori, 21 percent for Pacific people and 13 percent for Asian people.
Some regions also had rates that differed significantly from the national rate. Northland (23 percent), Manawatū-Whanganui (21 percent), and Taranaki (21 percent) all had higher rates. Auckland had a significantly lower rate of 14 percent. These rates are partially explained by the different demographic make-ups of the regions.
Almost half of disabled people experience difficulty in multiple domains
Forty-nine percent of disabled people reported experiencing difficulty in more than one domain. There was no significant difference between males and females, or across different age groups.
Adults were more likely to experience difficulties in physical functional domains (9 percent), which includes walking (7 percent) and flexibility/dexterity (6 percent). However, children most commonly experienced difficulties in mental health (5 percent) and accepting change to routine (5 percent) functional domains.
Over sixty percent of disabled people have unmet needs
Data from the survey shows that disabled people had unmet need across several key areas including unmet needs for supports and accommodations, access to health professionals, assistive equipment or technology, household or personal support, and medications, with 62 percent of disabled people reporting at least one unmet need. For more information visit the the Stats NZ news story Disabled people need more care and support. external URL
Around 2 percent of New Zealanders diagnosed with autism
The data shows that two percent of New Zealanders aged 5 years and over have been diagnosed with autism, including 48,000 males (2 percent) and 22,000 females (1 percent). Children (aged 5-14 years) were more likely to have an autism diagnosis than adults (3 percent and 1 percent respectively). Seventy percent of those diagnosed with autism were also identified as disabled.
A slightly higher rate (3 percent) of people (aged 5 years and over) had been diagnosed with ADHD. This was also more common amongst males (3 percent) than females (2 percent), and amongst children (4 percent) than adults (2 percent). Just over half (52 percent) of people diagnosed with ADHD were also identified as disabled in the survey.
Disabled people continue to fare worse across many outcome areas
Data from the survey shows that disabled people continue to have poorer outcomes than non-disabled people in many areas of their lives, including health and wellbeing, housing, education external URL , employment, and income.
For example, when compared with non-disabled people, more disabled people:
- Described their health as fair or poor (39 percent compared with 6 percent)
- Reported having not enough or only just had enough income to meet basic needs (53 percent compared with 33 percent)
- Lived in a home that wasn’t the right size for the people living in it (23 percent compared with 18 percent)
Despite this, many disabled people are doing well in some areas. Visit Many disabled people doing well external URL for more information.
About the data
The 2023 Stats NZ Household Disability Survey happens after the census and takes place every other census year (currently once every ten years).
The survey was based on the usually resident population living in New Zealand households at the time of the 2023 Census and therefore doesn’t capture people living in non-private dwellings except residential and community care facilities. This means certain groups of people were excluded from the survey such as people living in hotels, motels or hostels, aged care facilities, hospitals or in prison.
This disability survey uses an updated screening methodology to identify disabled people. Public consultation during the development of the 2023 survey highlighted that some of the previous survey content was outdated and no longer met important data needs. In response, Stats NZ made significant changes to the survey content, including changes to the screening methodology used to identify disabled people to ensure this aligns with our current understanding of disability and recent approaches to collecting disability data.
While the new questions mean the 2023 results can’t be directly compared to past disability surveys, they result in a more useful measurement of disability in New Zealand today.
The disability survey includes modules on 11 different topics:
- Screening
- Assistive equipment and technology
- Personal and household support
- Health services
- Employment
- Education
- Transport
- Housing
- Leisure
- Wellbeing
- Child’s main carer
For more information on methodology and definitions, the technical report external URL produced by Stats NZ can be found on their website.