Mental health and wellbeing 

UNICEF Aotearoa is concerned about the mental wellbeing ranking, with New Zealand ranked lowest, 36th out of 36 countries with available data. We are particularly distressed about the story this tells about New Zealand’s disproportionately high suicide rates in children and young people.  This statistic underscores the urgency for targeted interventions, as Report Card 19 states that globally, “Suicide is the fourth most common cause of death among adolescents aged 15–19 years.”  

The report shows that before Covid, New Zealand’s youth suicide rate was the second highest in the world: 14.9 per 100,000 people aged 15–19 years (three-year moving average). After the Covid-19 pandemic, the rate escalated even further to 17.1 making it the highest in the world – almost three times the average for high-income countries, which stands at approximately 6.5. While it is encouraging that recent domestic statistics on suspected youth suicide indicate that rates may be slightly decreasing, New Zealand is still a notable outlier compared to other countries and our rates are much too high. 

The high youth suicide rates are a persistent concern for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, emphasizing the urgent need for tailored interventions for Māori and Pasifika young people, particularly boys, who are disproportionately affected. 

Additionally, Report Card 19 reveals that New Zealand has the second highest proportion of bullied children at an alarming rate of 28% – which significantly exceeds the high-income country average of 19.6%.  

Physical health 

We are equally concerned about New Zealand’s ranking in children’s physical wellbeing, at 35th out of 41 countries, largely attributable to high rates of overweight children.  New Zealand has the third largest proportion of overweight children (40%), twice the global average (20%) and much higher than the average for high-income countries (28%). This rate remains unchanged from Report Card 16. 

The report calls out food insecurity as a major risk factor for this: “In high-income countries, children in economically disadvantaged contexts are at higher risk of obesity and overweight, although the opposite pattern has been observed in low-income countries. In high-income contexts, one of the ways in which poverty influences child health through diets is food insecurity – a lack of consistent physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food.” 

Educational achievement 

Report Card 19 also examines trends in skills, particularly academic, digital and emotional skills. While this represents New Zealand’s highest ranking at 25th out of 41, it still lags behind peer countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and Estonia, indicating a need for systemic and evidence-based educational reforms. 

It is concerning that there was an increase in socioeconomic differences in PISA scores in mathematics between 2018 and 2022. The gap between the top and bottom 20 per cent of children according to socioeconomic status increased on average by seven points in the countries covered in this report. In contrast New Zealand experienced a troubling increase of 14 points, highlighting a significant educational disparity among socio-economic groups. Finally, we are concerned to see that the proportion of 15-year-olds with basic math and reading skills fell from 65% to 61%. 

Conclusions 

Report Card 19 concludes by recommending action in all the areas the report covers. It also acknowledges the interconnectedness of mental wellbeing, physical health and educational achievement, and the importance of preparing for more uncertainty in the future. In particular, it emphasises the critical role that inequality plays in shaping outcomes for children, indicating that this important issue will be the focal point of Report Card 20.  

Finally, Report Card 19 makes a call for including children and young people in decision-making as is their Article 12 right under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: “Children can, and want to, be involved in decisions that affect their lives and their futures, and in finding solutions.”  

UNICEF Aotearoa echoes this call.