Previous 10 years of data points for median household income and the food index, in New Zealand.
KEY NOTES:
- 10 years (1 decade) is:
- A common time measurement/comparison.
- Includes 5 data points from the last National-led Government and 5 data points from the last and current Labour-led Government.
- Avoids the GFC period of ~2008 to 2012 where incomes slowed and many prices increased worldwide.
- Avoids the GST increase from 12.5% to 15% in October 2010.
- May is the median month of when Stats NZ gets household income data for June quarters (April-May-June).
- There is obviously no median income data for May 2022 yet.
- Covid 19 and associated responses have impacted food prices.
- The current Russian-Ukraine war started on February 24th 2022.
- The 7.6% increase in food prices to March 2022 is the largest since July 2011 (7.9%).
- Different types of food have increased at different rates, e.g. fruit and vegetables have increased by 18%, non-alcoholic beverages by 2.7%
| Month | Median household income | % annual change | Food index | % annual change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2013 | $68,536 | 4% | 946 | 0% |
| May 2014 | $71,656 | 5% | 963 | 2% |
| May 2015 | $73,320 | 2% | 973 | 1% |
| May 2016 | $79,664 | 9% | 968 | 0% |
| May 2017 | $81,900 | 3% | 998 | 3% |
| May 2018 | $88,764 | 8% | 997 | 0% |
| May 2019 | $91,520 | 3% | 1,014 | 2% |
| May 2020 | $90,792 | -1% | 1,043 | 3% |
| May 2021 | $97,760 | 8% | 1,062 | 2% |
| March 2022 | No data available | 1,125 | 8% |
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Have food prices increased at a faster rate than incomes?
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Other notes:
- All available data from March 1998 to March 2022 has been shared in the graph above.
- Stats NZ Household Income Survey:
- Started in 1998.
- Is a sample of 15,000 households across New Zealand.
- Asks for household income as a supplement in the June quarter reports.
- If you want data before 1998, you could try the Household Economic Survey or Census data.
- All numbers are provisional and subject to revision.
Thank you to the Factors who helped pull this together.
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SOURCES:
Food index from https://infoshare.stats.govt.nz/ (Economic Indicators > Consumers Price Index – CPI > Food Price Index for New Zealand (Monthly))
Median household incomes from http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/WBOS/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7480
This work is based on/includes Stats NZ’s data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
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