Is New Zealand a country in decline or a quiet success story? A new report from The New Zealand Initiative argues it is neither. Only the long view shows what is really happening.

New Zealand by Numbers, released today and edited by Dr Oliver Hartwich and Dr Bryce Wilkinson, traces more than a hundred indicators of New Zealand life, most reaching back to 1970 and beyond.

Some findings defy the national mood. In 1973, 843 people died on New Zealand roads. Last year, with far more people driving far more cars, the provisional toll was 272. Life expectancy at birth has risen by almost eleven years since 1970, with the biggest gains among children and young adults.

“Improvements that unfold over decades rarely make the news,” said Dr Hartwich, the Initiative’s Executive Director. “Nobody holds a press conference because the road toll fell again. Yet these quiet gains are real.”

Not every line points the right way. The OECD estimates that New Zealand’s labour productivity, measured as GDP per hour worked, is now around 40% below that of the top half of the OECD, up from a 34% gap in 1996.

A country that ranked third in the world for income per head in the 1950s ranked 37th by 2024. Each year, an ageing population asks fewer workers to support more retirees.

“There is genuine improvement that too often goes unseen, and there are stubborn challenges that have not budged in decades,” Dr Hartwich said. “Our debate about New Zealand’s long-term development needs both in the same picture.”

“Good policy starts with evidence, and evidence starts with numbers,” Dr Hartwich said.

A companion report, New Zealand by Comparison, will follow later this month, examining how New Zealand measures up internationally.