Abstract
Since the turn of the Millenium there have been active developments of social indicator frameworks in New Zealand, alongside related efforts of economic, environmental, and health indicators. The first phase included the Ministry of Social Development’s Social Report and the – still on-going - Quality of Life Project alongside living standards studies and the academic FWWP[1] study drawing on census data. In the second decade a new approach gradually emerged. The Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) General Social Survey provided a firm foundation for developing indicators, international conceptualisation from the OECD and other sources was explicitly drawn on, the Household Economic Survey underwent ongoing enhancement and Treasury embarked on the long-term development of its Living Standards framework. A recent fillip driven by the emerging rhetoric of ‘Social Well Being’ has been the institutionalising of social indicators in the forthcoming Treasury Wellbeing report, an interest in social cohesion, mobilisation of academic knowledge, consideration of a wider range of inputs (especially on behalf of ethnic communities) and establishment of more active SNZ and other websites and dashboards, which supply useful single-variable vignettes and considerable downloadable source data but little analysis. The New Zealand social indicator system, within the increasingly comprehensive overall indicator system, is beginning to consolidate but needs more considered development.
 
 [1] The Family and Whanau Wellbeing Project was carried out at the University Auckland: see Cotterell & Crothers, 2011.
Highlights
The recent release of Kei te pēhea tātou? A snapshot of New Zealand's wellbeing https://www.stats.govt.nz/infographics/kei-te-pehea-tatou-a-snapshot-of-newzealands-wellbeing is a ‘storefront’ pointing to the recently refreshed Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) indicators framework Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa – Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand The snapshot is a somewhat widely scattered infographic of interesting social facts on NZ, presumably designed as exciting teasers which might pull readers into delving further into the store of indicators
The living standards data became based on the Household Economic Survey (HES). This in turn was followed by the 2 yearly Stats NZ General Social Survey (GSS) beginning 2008 which provided a broader foundation of social measurement
A major impetus for further indicator work came from Treasury which had long been developing a Living Standards framework to provide a wider framework for guiding its advice than the more usual cost benefit analysis
Summary
The recent release (early September) of Kei te pēhea tātou? A snapshot of New Zealand's wellbeing https://www.stats.govt.nz/infographics/kei-te-pehea-tatou-a-snapshot-of-newzealands-wellbeing is a ‘storefront’ pointing to the recently refreshed SNZ indicators framework Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa – Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand (see https://statisticsnz.shinyapps.io/wellbeingindicators/.) The snapshot is a somewhat widely scattered infographic ( available in Te Reo) of interesting social facts on NZ, presumably designed as exciting teasers which might pull readers into delving further into the store of indicators. The ultimate goal may be for governments to be able to make decisions driven in large part by modelling of indicator-set information, especially where monetised long-term information about costs and benefits (including their social distributions) is available This stocktake may be useful in the nudging the thinking of the various arms of the Public Service involved in producing social indicators into more ‘whole of government’ thinking. The government has a broad duty to provide information on its activities and their effects on the broader society, environment and the wider world Those with relevant expertise and both the general publics and specific interest groups should be involved in the development of indicator sets and to attest to their validity. Subsequent sections cover: - Stats NZ Well-being framework: Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa - Living Conditions and poverty monitoring - Treasury Living Standards framework - A widespread array of other indicator-sets, with - Conclusions and indications of a development agenda
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