How Fucked Is New Zealand Right Now?

Short answer: Very.
Long answer: Here’s how we got here.

🏠 1. Housing is unaffordable for nearly everyone under 40

• NZ has one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world, relative to income.

• Median house prices are 7–11x higher than average household incomes.
  A healthy ratio is 3:1. We’re triple that.

Source: Demographia International Housing Affordability Report, 2023

👶 2. Child poverty is still rampant

• Over 1 in 9 children live in material hardship—lacking basics like food, clothes, or heating.

• Māori and Pasifika children are most affected.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Child Poverty Report

🧠 3. Youth mental health is collapsing

• NZ has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world.

• Kids are overwhelmed by school pressure, social media, housing stress, and hopelessness.

Source: UNICEF Report Card, 2020 + NZ Mental Health Inquiry, 2019

🏥 4. The health system is at breaking point

• Hospitals are short-staffed.

• Emergency wait times are blowing out.

• Workers are striking from burnout and underpay.

Source: NZ Medical Association + DHB reports, 2023–24

🌱 5. The environment is still being sacrificed

• Freshwater pollution from dairy farming continues.

• Climate targets are being missed or delayed.

• Native species are at increasing risk of extinction.

Source: Ministry for the Environment 2023 report

💰 6. Wealth inequality is surging

• The richest 10% own more than half the country’s wealth.

• Wages are not keeping up with cost of living.

• Renters now pay over 50% of their income just to have a roof.

Source: NZ Treasury, 2023 + OECD reports

🚨 7. Politicians aren’t offering real solutions

• Major parties argue over minor tax tweaks and “tough on crime” headlines.

• No one’s addressing the real roots: trauma, inequality, and broken systems.

Source: Just… the entire news cycle.

Final Summary:

We’re in a country that’s:

• Too expensive to live in

• Too stressed to function

• Too unequal to be fair

• And run by people who think vibes = policy

And still—we’re told we should be grateful.
Nah.
We should be better.