Disabled people experiencing poorer health and wellbeing than non-disabled people

In November 2024 the Ministry of Health released the latest findings from the New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS) external URL . The NZHS provides a wide range of information about the health and wellbeing of people in New Zealand.

The data is collected continuously but reported annually for the July – June year. The latest data from the 2023/24 NZHS can be found in the Annual Data Explorer. external URL

We have summarised some of the key findings for disabled adults (aged 15 and over) and disabled children (aged 5–14) below.

Disabled adults report poorer health and wellbeing outcomes

The latest data from the 2023/24 NZHS shows that disabled adults experience poorer outcomes than non-disabled adults across many health and wellbeing measures, including self-rated health, life satisfaction, loneliness, and psychological distress. For example, when compared with non-disabled adults, disabled adults were:

• less likely to report good, very good, or excellent health (60.0% compared with 87.8%)
• less likely to report high or very high life satisfaction (61.0% compared with 85.0%)
• more likely to report being lonely most or all of the time (14.0% compared with 2.6%)
• more likely to report high or very high levels of psychological distress (33.2% compared with 11.2%).

Disabled men getting healthier and more physically active

Since the 2018/2019 NZHS, when disability status was first collected in the survey, disabled men have consistently been less likely to be physically active or be in good, very good, or excellent health than non-disabled men. However, whilst still well below the rates for non-disabled men, there have been significant increases since 2018/19 in the proportion of disabled men who said they were:

• physically active (37.2%, up from 31.7%)
• in good, very good or excellent health (64.3%, up from 58.3%).

Disabled adults find it harder to access primary healthcare

Disabled adults were more likely to report unmet need for primary healthcare than non-disabled adults due to a range of barriers. The survey found that, when compared with non-disabled adults, disabled adults were more likely to report having unmet need for a GP due to:

• wait time (32.1% compared with 25.0%)
• cost (22.3% compared with 14.9%)
• lack of transport (8.4% compared with 2.9%)
• lack of a carer, support person, or interpreter (2.8% compared with 0.4%)
• dislike or fear of GP (6.2% compared with 2.4%)

Disabled adults were also more likely than non-disabled adults to report having at least one unfilled prescription due to cost (11.2% compared with 3.8%)

Disabled adults more likely to use mental health supports

Disabled adults were more likely than non-disabled adults to use mental health supports. Specifically, disabled adults were more likely to discuss their mental health with:

• a psychologist, counsellor, or psychotherapist (16.9% compared with 8.7%)
• a nurse or GP (24.4% compared with 11.3%)
• family, whānau, and/or friends (24.6% compared with 15.9%).

However, disabled adults were also more likely to report unmet mental healthcare needs, with 22.2% reporting unmet need for mental health or addiction services, compared with 9.6% of non-disabled adults.

Disabled adults report more illicit drug use

After adjusting for age and gender, disabled adults were more likely than non-disabled adults to say that, in the 12 months prior to the survey, they used the following drugs at a higher dose or for a different purpose than prescribed:

• opioids (4.6 times as likely)
• amphetamine style drugs (3.7 times as likely)
• sedatives or sleeping pills (2.8 times as likely)
• hallucinogens (2.7 times as likely)
• ecstasy/MDMA (2.2 times as likely)
• cannabis (1.9 times as likely)
• cocaine (1.9 times as likely).

High hazardous drinking among disabled adults

Disabled adults were less likely than non-disabled adults to have drunk alcohol in the past 12 months (66.5% compared with 76.9%). However, among people who had drunk in the previous 12 months, and after adjusting for age and gender, disabled adults were:

• 1.6 times as likely to report a hazardous drinking pattern
• 1.4 times as likely to report heavy episodic drinking at least weekly.

When compared with the 2018/19 NZHS, no significant change has been seen in the proportion of disabled men reporting a hazardous drinking pattern. Conversely, over that time non-disabled men have seen a decrease from 33.3% to 27.2%.

The hazardous drinking patterns for disabled women and non-disabled women were 23.6% and 15.0%, respectively. Neither group has seen a significant change compared with the 2018/19 NZHS.

Disabled adults more likely to smoke and vape

Disabled adults reported higher rates of both smoking and vaping nicotine than non-disabled adults. For example, after adjusting for age and gender disabled adults were:

• 1.8 times as likely to report being a current smoker
• 1.8 times as likely to report vaping at least monthly.

Disabled women smoke less and vape more than previous years

Compared with 2018/19, the latest data shows that disabled women were less likely to smoke in 2023/24. This includes decreases in the proportion of disabled women who:

• were current smokers (9.4%, down from 19.0%)
• smoked daily (8.0%, down from 17.7%).

However, there were increases in the proportions of disabled women who:

• vaped monthly (17.6%, up from 4.5%)
• vaped daily (13.7%, up from 3.3%).

Disabled children experience poorer health

The survey asked caregivers about the health and wellbeing of their children. The data show that disabled children, when compared with non-disabled children, were:

• less likely to be in good, very good, or excellent health (88.3% compared with 97.8%)
• less likely to have good, very good, or excellent oral health (82.8% compared with 91.0%).

Disabled children were also more likely than non-disabled children to live in a household where food often runs out (10.6% compared with 4.4%).

More children using mental and primary healthcare services

The proportion of disabled children who used healthcare services has increased since the 2022/2023 NZHS, including:

• consulting a psychologist, counsellor, or psychotherapist about mental health (28.8%, up from 11.8%)
• visiting a GP (74.3%, up from 63.6%).

However, disabled children still experienced higher levels of unmet need than non-disabled children. For example, disabled children were more likely to have:

• unmet need for mental healthcare and addictions services (33.2% compared with 3.8%)
• unmet need for a GP due to wait time (23.3% compared with 17.3%)
• at least one unfilled prescription due to cost (5.2% compared with 1.2%)
• unmet need for a GP due to cost (3.5% compared with 0.9%).

Disabled children have more emotional and behavioural issues

Disabled children were more likely than non-disabled children to experience difficulties across a range of emotional and behavioural areas. For example, disabled children were more likely to have:

• emotional symptoms (46.9% compared with 8.8%)
• conduct problems (37.0% compared with 6.0%)
• peer problems (38.0% compared with 10.9%).

Caring for disabled children difficult

Disabled children were more likely than non-disabled children to have a caregiver who reported difficulties in caring for them.

For example, 24.6% of disabled children had a caregiver who said their child was always or usually harder to care for than other children (in the past month), compared with 2.9% for non-disabled children.

Disabled children were also less likely to have a caregiver who said they coped well or very well with the demands of raising children (55.0%), compared with 81.1% for non-disabled children.

Most neurodivergent children identified as disabled

The survey also asked caregivers whether they had ever been told by a doctor that their child has ADHD or autism spectrum disorder. The data show that 3.0% of children had been diagnosed with autism and 5.3% of children had been diagnosed with ADHD.

The majority of both groups were identified as disabled, with 69.2% of children with autism and 56.6% of children with ADHD being disabled. These numbers are in line with the new data from the Household Disability Survey external URL .

Disabled boys more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD

The survey found that disabled boys were much more likely to have (diagnosed) ADHD than disabled girls. Specifically, 34.0% of disabled boys had been diagnosed with ADHD, compared with 9.4% of disabled girls.

However, no significant difference was found between disabled boys and disabled girls in rates of hyperactivity. The survey found that the proportion of disabled girls experiencing hyperactivity has significantly increased, with 35.8% of disabled girls reported as being hyperactive in the latest data, up from 19.4% in 2022/2023.

About the data

Data used in this summary was from the New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS).

Age and gender adjustment

Age and gender adjustment provides rates which account for differences in the age and gender structure of disabled populations compared with non-disabled populations. Unadjusted data can be found in the Annual Data Explorer external URL and in the downloadable data sets.

All differences between disabled and non-disabled people in this summary are significant based on age and gender adjusted rate ratios.

Sampling

The NZHS sample consisted of 9,719 adults and 3,062 children. Participants were taken from randomly selected households. From each household, one adult aged 15 or older and one child aged 14 years or younger (if any in the household) were chosen at random.

Disability status

Disabled adults are identified as those who have at least a lot of difficulty with seeing or hearing (even with glasses or hearing aids), walking or climbing stairs, remembering or concentrating, self-care, or communicating, as measured by the Washington Group Short Set external URL .

Disabled children (aged 5 to 14 years) are those who have at least a lot of difficulty with seeing or hearing (even with glasses or hearing aids), walking, self-care, communicating, learning, remembering, concentrating, accepting change, controlling their own behaviour or making friends, or if they have anxiety, or depression, as measured by the Child Functioning Module (CFM) external URL

The questions have been tested internationally and were developed as a reliable and efficient way of disaggregating disability data in surveys and censuses to compare outcomes for disabled and non-disabled people.