New Zealand in Numbers 2026: Key Facts and Figures Every Taxpayer Should Know
Pita’s perspective…
How many New Zealanders are there, what do we earn, what do we owe, and how far is it from Christchurch to Moscow? Pita Alexander has pulled together the numbers worth keeping in your memory bank as a New Zealand taxpayer in 2026. They cover population, housing, debt and farming, plus a few facts just for interest. Have a read and see how many surprise you.
Population and age
Population at 30 April 2026: 5,357,300
Population at 31 March 1991: 3,488,000
Working age population: 4,353,000
Median age: 38 years (women 39.2 years, men 37.7 years)
People who turned 65 in 2026: 32,490, or 89 per day
Chinese people in New Zealand: 336,600 (6.28%)
Age groups as at 30 June 2026
0 to 14 years: 897,300 (16.75%)
15 to 39 years: 1,833,000 (34.21%)
40 to 64 years: 1,652,999 (30.86%)
65 years and over: 974,001 (18.18%)
Total: 5,357,300 (100.00%)
Births, deaths and divorces
Live births: 158 per day
Deaths: 103 per day
Fertility rate: 1.55
Divorces: 22 per day
Households and housing
Households in New Zealand: 2,064,700
Private houses: 2,117,500
Empty houses (2023 census): 111,666
House-owner households: 1,390,300 (65.65%)
Rental households: 690,100 (32.60%)
Households in social housing: 84,000
One-person households: 430,000
Average house value: $898,799
Average first home mortgage: $555,000
Average gross income per household before tax: $147,930, which is lower if Auckland is excluded
Work, wages and the cost of living
Unemployment rate: 5.6% (171,000 people)
Unemployment, North Island: 6.0%
Unemployment, South Island: 3.7%
Median weekly income in 2026: $962, or $50,024 per year, including casual employment
CPI for the June 2026 year: 4.1%
The gender pay gap
2026: 5.3%
1998: 16.2%
Interest rates, debt and the economy
OCR: increased to 2.75% on 2 September 2026
USA 30-year fixed loan rate, July 2026: 6.58%
Highest inflation in the world: Argentina and Turkey, both around 32%
Household money
Deposits held by New Zealand householders in the banking system at 30 June 2026: $275.357 billion (surprisingly high)
Residential debt owed by households to the banking system at 30 June 2026: $397.5 billion
Household debt to gross income ratio in 2026: 166%, that is, debt is 66% higher than income
The national books
Estimated GDP at 30 June 2026: $452.2 billion
Estimated government gross debt at 30 June 2026: $223.8 billion
Estimated gross debt to GDP ratio: 49.5%
Government gross debt in 1950: $670.031 million
Business
Businesses in Auckland in 2026: 224,157
Employees at Datacom Limited: 6,131
Farming and food exports
New Zealand has 51,900 farmers across sheep, beef, arable, horticulture and agriculture. Some of these 51,900 may not be viable operations.
Livestock numbers
Sheep in New Zealand, 2026: 22.78 million
Sheep in New Zealand, 1982 (44 years ago): 70 million
Beef cattle in New Zealand: 3.96 million
Sheep in the USA, 2026: 4.99 million
Beef and dairy cattle in the USA, 2026: 94.2 million
Food and fibre exports
For the year ended 30 June 2026, New Zealand's food and fibre exports were worth $64.325 billion. The split was:
Dairy: $28.6 billion (44.46%)
Meat and wool: $14.1 billion (21.92%)
Horticulture: $9.5 billion (14.77%)
Forestry: $6.1 billion (9.48%)
Processed food: $3.5 billion (5.44%)
Seafood: $2.2 billion (3.42%)
Arable: $0.325 billion (0.51%)
Total: $64.325 billion (100.00%)
Coal: what we export and import
Coal exports
2020: 1,140,331 tonnes
2021: 1,244,368 tonnes
2022: 1,277,969 tonnes
2023: 1,224,197 tonnes
2024: 1,102,196 tonnes
2025: 2,580,000 tonnes
2026: lower than 2025
Coal imports
2020: 1,180,000 tonnes
2021: 1,845,198 tonnes
2022: 726,838 tonnes
2023: 240,305 tonnes
2024: 1,014,562 tonnes
2025: 1,360,000 tonnes
2026: lower than 2025
Government and public service
Prime Minister's annual salary: $520,500 ($250.24 per hour)
Back bench MP's annual salary: $181,200 ($87.11 per hour)
Average time Members of Parliament spend in office: just on 6 years
Public service employees at 31 March 2026: 64,535
Average public servant's salary in 2026: approximately $103,000
Employees in the Prime Minister's office in 2026: approximately 250
Prime Ministers New Zealand has had: 42, including 3 women
Superannuation, benefits and KiwiSaver
New Zealanders receiving national superannuation in 2026: 974,001 (941,115 in 2025)
Job seeker payment for a couple with children: $38,273 per year before tax
People receiving job seeker payments at 30 June 2026: 218,500
KiwiSaver total funds at 31 March 2026: $124.5 billion
KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals in 2025
Contributors who withdrew money for hardship: 58,460
Total withdrawn: $514.8 million
Average withdrawal: $8,500
The power of saving $1 a day
If you live to 90 years of age, that is 32,850 days from birth.
If you saved $1 per day at 5% for those 90 years, you would have $596,798 at 90 years old.
Prisons, schools and other facts
People in New Zealand prisons at 31 March 2026: 11,255 (10,406 male and 849 female)
Children homeschooled at 1 July 2025: 11,110
Secondary schools in 2026: 357
Primary schools in 2026: 1,927
Average murders and manslaughters per year, 2007 to 2023: 75
How much of your body is water: 55% to 60%
Just for interest
New Zealand firsts and landmarks
Women's vote: New Zealand gave women the vote in 1893, the first country in the world to do so.
National parks: 13
Oldest pub: Moutere Inn, near Nelson
Highest mountain in the North Island: Mt Ruapehu, 2,797m or 9,177 ft
Political parties
National Party: formed in 1936 (90 years ago) following the merger of the Reform Party and the United Party.
Labour Party: formed in 1916 (110 years ago).
The Berlin Wall
Built: 13 August 1961
Demolished: 9 November 1989, 28 years later
Length: 155 km
People killed trying to scale it: at least 140
How far is it from Christchurch?
Flight distances from Christchurch to:
Auckland: 760 km
Sydney: 2,137 km
Melbourne: 2,419 km
Brisbane: 2,508 km
Adelaide: 3,061 km
Cairns: 3,907 km
Scott Base (Antarctica): 3,920 km
Perth: 5,048 km
Darwin: 5,265 km
Tokyo: 9,418 km
Buenos Aires: 9,911 km
Beijing: 10,848 km
Cape Town: 11,037 km
Los Angeles: 11,086 km
Anchorage: 12,094 km
New Delhi: 12,560 km
Florida: 13,410 km
New York: 14,661 km
Iceland: 17,560 km
Oslo: 17,821 km
London: 18,976 km
Moscow: 19,083 km
Talk to Alexanders Rural
Numbers like these are a good starting point, but what matters is what they mean for your own farm business and your financial position. If you'd like advice on profitability, financial management or business planning, the team at Alexanders Rural is happy to talk it through. Get in touch to start the conversation.
DISCLAIMER
Any views or opinions expressed in this article are those of Pita Alexander only and do not reflect the views of any other person or organisation.
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be financial advice.
Any errors or omissions are the author’s own.